


The First Month of September

by ParadiseValley



Category: This Is What You Wanted (Saga)
Genre: Deaf Character, Family Drama, Famous/Ordinary, High School, M/M, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, POV Alternating, Small Towns, Underage Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2014-03-14
Packaged: 2018-01-04 22:05:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 120,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParadiseValley/pseuds/ParadiseValley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Isaac moves to Maine during his junior year he didn't expect to meet the guy of his dreams, not knowing that he's in a famous indie band. Penner is from a small town and is one of the lucky ones who got out and did something with his life. When coming home on a four month break after being on tour for almost two years, there is a new face in the crowd he didn't remember being there. In a small town as Camden, Maine everyone is connected in more ways than one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. August- Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! I've posted this work in progress story on Wattpad and decided to post it here as well! This is the first time I've ever posted a story like this before so please leave feedback and whatnot because that's greatly appreciated! The story starts off rather slow, but picks up in later chapters so please stick with it:)

It all started on this night. The night my parents sat my siblings and I at the dinner table for homemade spaghetti. At the time, I thought that this was the worst possible thing that has ever happened to me, but something I didn’t recognize about this night was how much a few words are going to better my life.

Nebraska is my home. I’ve grown up here, made friends here. I’ve gone through the hardest times of my life here. And I wasn’t about to give all of that up just to start fresh in the middle of nowhere.

“You guys are hilarious, you had me going for a second,” I took a stab back into my spaghetti. “Like I thought we would actually move to Maine.” I chuckled slightly, rolling my eyes at the thought.

My mom and dad glanced back and forth between each other, both setting down their silverware.

“Isaac, we’re not kidding.” My dad was trying to be as serious as possible, causing me to gulp.

“Your father’s law firm is being transferred, small towns need good lawyers, too.” My mom explained.

“B-but what about Nixon and his friends? And Trey just started playing on his new hockey team. The only good thing about this is Katherine, at least she can make a new start. And what about me? I-I have two years left of high school I can’t just switch now.” I said, thinking of absolutely anything that can keep us in Nebraska.

Nixon was my 14 year old brother who always got picked on for being in advanced classes and had trouble finding friends who didn’t make his life miserable. Trey was my youngest brother who started playing on an eight year old hockey team last month and for just beginning, he was a natural. And Katherine, well she’s deaf. Been that way since she was a couple months old. My baby sister just turned three a couple weeks ago, and with her starting school in a couple of years it won’t be a problem for her if we pack everything up and leave. Everything’s easier when you’re younger.

“Nixon can make new friends, you all can,” I glanced at my brother, who was fiddling with his fingers in his lap, trying not to be involved in the conversation. “Trey can take up another sport and Kitty is no different than rest of you. And as it goes for you, you are 17 years old and are capable of handling a little change. Come to think of it you’ll be an adult in no time.” Mom finished.

“But mom—.” I tried to fight.

“There is no discussion about it,” My dad roared. “We are leaving next month.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, thinking about how I was going to react to this. I decided instead of blowing up at the dinner table, I was going to storm away from the scene and slam my bedroom door shut.


	2. Saturday, Sept. 1st: I'm About To Lose My Mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmmmmm well anyways just an FYI I already have these chapters written and I'm trying to get them up before I start something else-- but what I'm trying to say is is that I don't ever update this fast EVER and I hope I don't let any of you down okay IMSORRY...  
> sooo since I have a deaf character you'll know that they're signing by the BOLD font. I'm also 'rewriting' the beginning chapters because when I first wrote them I didn't really care if they were good or bad I just wanted to get them out there. But I'm trying to make them less suckish then they were which is good because who doesn't enjoy that?

(Isaac P.O.V)

A month of complete madness went by. My mom was in a total mental state scrambling around to get everything packed in time and getting all the papers from her job and our schools transferred in time.

Now that our bags are packed and the house cleared out, we had to stay at my grandparents house for a couple days while the moving company drove across the country with all our belongings.

So now that we’ve all woken up at 3AM, it was nice to finally relax on the plane without any annoying distractions. That was at least until my mom brought Trey back to my seat.  
“He really wanted to sit next to you.” 

“Yeah sure, I guess.” I sighed, slumping lower in my chair.

“We’ll be up here—.”

“I know, I can handle Trey.” I reassured.

“Mommy, where’s my Gameboy?”

“Here, here,” She rushed, placing the gaming device in my brother’s hand. “Make sure you don’t let him get up and go anywhere by himself.”

What did I do to deserve this? I had the as-close-to-prefect life as someone could get to and now I was moving to the middle of nowhere Maine. Well it does have a name. It’s Camden. The population is less than fifteen thousand people if that gives you any idea. I was supposed to go to the University of Nebraska and become a Cornhusker. Now the school I’m attending doesn’t even have enough textbooks for its students.

At first when dad showed us all pictures of what Camden is like I imagined a rundown, small life town with absolutely no entertainment whatsoever. But that’s not how it turned out to be and I was relieved of that. The famous local diners that claim to have the ‘World’s Best Coffee’ sure wasn’t anything to believe especially when I assumed no one had been out of the city, let alone the state. But I definitely wanted to go boating on the water, maybe even go water skiing if I had the time. Or if I had a boat, or friends to go with for the matter. Hidden caves with old ancestor stories of Bigfoot lurking in the shadows seemed like an adventure, none that I was eager to go on.

But one thing is for sure. I’m not going to sit around and make things worse than they already are by laying on my ass and complaining about something that I couldn’t control.  
All the packing, the headaches, and explaining to Katherine why we have to move at least 12 times each day didn’t make things any better. 

“Izzy look, look! We’re going through a cloud!” Trey shouted, breaking the silence in the plane. The people in the rows in front and behind gave dirty looks in my direction.  
“Yeah, that’s cool.” I mumbled. Suddenly something yanked on my hair making me jump. I turned my head towards my baby sister.

“ **What are you doing, does mom and dad know where you are?** ” I signed, reaching my hand out to pat at her curly brunette hair. “ **How much longer**?” she asked me. I reached into my pocket to grab my phone and the time read 9:52 AM. It’d only been two hours and the flight was three and a half.

“ **Still a little while Kitty. Why don’t you take a nap?** ” I asked as she climbed into my lap.

“ **I wanna get off** ,” she whimpered putting her tiny hands over her ears. I pushed her head in closer to my chest.

“Sir, I’m sorry but she needs to be fastened in her seat,” A flight attendant poked her head around my chair. “We are about to make a stop before our final destination.” 

“Trey, switch seats with Kitty for me.” I demanded. He sighed and unbuckled his seatbelt before moving four rows up and sitting next to Nixon who was asleep in his chair with his arms across his chest.

I picked Katherine up and set her in the seat next to mine buckling her in, trying to keep her as close to me as possible. I searched my pockets finding a piece of gum for her to chew on hoping it would stop her ears from hurting any longer. 

As time passed from the stop, passengers getting on and off, and then getting back into the air Katherine had passed out in my arms, still sound asleep when the plane landed in Augusta, just an hour drive away from Camden.

“Kitty wake up.” I mumbled softly, knowing that she couldn’t hear me, I picked her up out of her seat as she attached her arms around my neck like a sloth and carrying her off the plane into the airport. I tried to set her down in a chair next to Trey but she didn’t want to let go.

Katherine whined holding on tighter. I sighed and let her stay curled up in my lap until our moving service arrived with all our things from Nebraska.

“I’m going to get a pizza. Pepperoni right?” My father spoke. Everyone nodded and Nixon and Trey followed him to the food court.

“Mom do you know how much longer until they get here with everything? We still have to drive from here to Camden right?” I questioned running my hands though my sister’s hair.

“It shouldn’t be much longer since they left a couple days before we did. We should be home before dinner.” My mother assured me. I looked down the hall to where my family left to get lunch when I saw them turn the corner carrying 2 pizzas and several drinks. Watching them return I shook Katherine lightly, her rubbing her back softly. She let out a quiet whine moving closer into my neck.

When I moved my head away to take her out of hiding she squeaked at me. I picked her up and she wrapped her legs around my waist as I carried her to the table nearby.

“ **You can go back to sleep after you eat**.” I signed setting her down in the chair next to Nixon. I reached across the table for a slice of pizza when I saw Katherine try and get into Nixon’s lap to go back to sleep, but my mother got up and set her back into her chair.

Lunch conversations about ‘all we are going to be eating for the rest of our lives is lobster so you better enjoy this pizza while you can’ seemed like a joke. I never had lobster, probably because if you ate lobster in Nebraska you were rich. And I’m not talking about eating at Red Lobster either. A few hours passing the time the clock was now at 4:23 PM when the moving truck arrived, along with our cars which was one of the best things I saw all day besides flying high up in the clouds. 

Hitting the road one last time before settling in to our new ‘home’, my father and Trey carried on a conversation in the first car about hockey, something my dad always supported. He and I never saw eye-to-eye on pretty much anything. He wanted me to be an athlete and I became interested in music instead. I wanted to travel the world. Not to be a musician but to live my life. I wanted to see the Kremlin in Russia or see Big Ben in England and he wanted me to never leave the country. He tried the same thing on Nixon and look how that turned out, mostly brains and not a lot of bronze. As for Trey he was like a mini-me version of my father. He was the son he always wanted.

Nixon, who was closer to my mom was talking in the second car about making new friends something that he struggled with especially when he was getting closer to starting high school soon. She tells him to just be himself and people will be dying to be his friend in no time. My mom was the opposite of my father. If you wanted to dye your hair blue it’s because of who you wanted to be, not because of some kind of gang symbol or being a non-conformist. She was always positive about everything you did. She always said when I was younger, “there was nothing you couldn’t do, just don’t be stupid enough not to try it.”

My father never seemed to listen to my mother’s advice. When we first found out that Katherine was deaf we all signed up for sign language classes because that would be the reasonable thing to do right? Wrong. My father only learned about 10 signs before saying, “I’ll learn more later.” My mother and I are fluent in sign language while my brothers struggled in some area or another. Katherine had a very good memory but lacked in her attention span which made it harder for her to learn.

As of late she has been very clingy towards me, that becoming very clear when she wanted to ride in my Camaro. A 1969 First Edition Pro Touring Resto Mod. Like anyone actually cared what it was called, it was black and everyone thought it was cool. It was my baby and I didn’t want my sister slobbering in my car. I’m glad my mother insisted she ride with her instead, all for safety purposes of course. And it’s not like I don’t like her company, but I just want to not have to play silly games and watch to her count as high as she can.  
I just want these last years of high school to go by as fast as possible so I can go off to college and never look back. So I can imagine that it never happened, like it was all a dream. Everything except the boating part. That can stay in my mind.


	3. Sunday, Sept. 2nd: I'll Do Whatever It Takes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter is only short because not a lot happened on this day.. in this world. The more stuff that happens in the day, the longer the chapter will be! OHHHH BTW.. my other chapters average about 4K words, so that's something to look forward to!

(Isaac's P.O.V)

Last night's sleep was probably the most awkward moment of my life. All of us were sleeping together on the living room floor considering that none of our things were sorted out. And by the next morning we (except my dad) all sat in the middle of the floor listening to each other argue about who gets what and where things should go. 

“I’m older so I get to pick first,” Nixon pointed out to Trey when they were both fighting over which room they were going to get.

“Mom, where did Dad go?” I questioned.

“He had to go down to his office to make sure everything was set up before he opened tomorrow morning,” She explained handing Katherine her juice and apple slices. 

“Boys please, if anyone gets to pick first its Izzy,” My mom broke my brothers up and reached across Katherine to pinch my cheeks together before I swatted them away with my hand. “Go ahead you can pick first.” 

This house was incredible, even bigger than the old one in Nebraska. Although I was a little skeptic at first because the outside was old and historic which was something that my parents wanted, but I didn’t know if it had any type of damage to it. They were tired of the new, modern suburban life and wanted something almost rustic and ancient.

“Isn’t there a room above the garage?” I asked looking out the window to check.

“It’s a good thing you mentioned that,” She started. “Seeming as I knew that would be the one you would choose, your father and I thought that it would be a good idea to have you ‘live’ on your own,” She said putting the air quotes around ‘live’. “I know you’ll be turning 18 in a few months and I just want you to be ready for when you move out.”

“Are you trying to get rid of me already?” I asked, acting shocked. To be honest I didn’t care what the reason was for them to let me live up there, I was just thrilled that I didn’t have to be trapped with the rest of them.

“Of course not, we’re just preparing you for your future,” I nodded, anxious to see what the room looked like. “Now the room already has everything you need, a fully working bathroom with a shower and everything except your own kitchen.” She explained.

“Can I go look at it?” I asked.

“Sure I need to start unpacking. Come on boys let’s go pick your rooms.” She said taking Katherine by the hand, trying not to trip over the boys as they rushed passed her. I grabbed my shoes and jacket heading out the front door walking along the side of the house to the garage. I pulled open the side door, struggling a bit when it started sticking, but I jiggled and jiggled the door knob back and forth, forcing it open until it swung back and smacked me in the face. A string of curses came from under my breath as I finally got inside, rubbing my forehead at the pain.

It was a typical two car garage that included shelving units with a workshop for tools and supplies. I looked around for the door leading upstairs when I spotted it in the far corner to the left. It was painted a dark green just like a chalkboard and the color stood out amongst the white walls in the room.

I opened the door not knowing what was behind it, when a bird flew out, and knocking me back on the ground in surprise. I quickly regained my breath and opened the large garage door to let the bird out. Behind the door there was around 15 steps to the top that creaked underneath my feet as I made it to the top where I was met by another door. I opened that door worried that another outdoor creature would lurk behind it, but I took a deep sigh when nothing attacked me. 

The room had all white walls which was spread evenly together throughout the large room with brick walls in-between. There was enough room the put a couch and a TV by how much space was available. I made my way back down the stairs and into the house looking for my mother.

“Mom!” I yelled throughout the house.

“She’s in the bathroom.” Nixon said as he walked in with boxes from the car. I hustled from the living room upstairs to the second floor bathroom to talk with my mother.

“Mom, there you are.”

“What do you need dear?” She asked me brushing her hair out of her eyes to look up at me.

“You know that room above the garage?”

“What about it?”

“I’ll take it.” I smiled, rushing off to get my stuff out of the moving trucks and start putting them in my new room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I could post pictures of my characters on here like I can on Wattpad.. or maybe I can and I just don't know it?


	4. Monday, Sept. 3rd: Carry On My Own Life

(Isaac's P.O.V)

It was time to man up for craps sake. I mean let’s get completely real here. I’m 17 years old and I’m scared for the first day of school. How much more pathetic can I get?

“I can make toast.” My mom blurted as I walked into the kitchen before I headed off to school.

“It's all about the coffee, Mom.” I murmured searching through every cabinet for a cup, still trying to get used to where everything was.

“Is there coffee?” Nixon said rounding the corner, taking the cup from my hand.

“It’s your first day of school and I'm not really for it,” She looked around the house in a hurry. “Lunch money?”

“I'm good.” I responded pouring myself another cup of coffee.

“Anything else?” She questioned almost spinning in circles.

“Don't you have an introduction meeting today?” I wondered, handing Trey a cup of orange juice.

“I'm meeting with the editor at— now!” She yelled throwing on a jacket and shoes.

“We'll be fine, I’ll take care of Katherine.” I reassured her, setting down my cup, making my way through the kitchen and to the stairs. 

“You okay?” I asked Nixon from his place on the couch.

“What do you think?” He said taking a sip of his coffee before getting up and putting on his jacket. I turned to head up the stairs when I saw Katherine slowly making her way down one step at a time, holding onto the railing tightly.

“ **Are you hungry?** ” I asked her.

“ **Can I have some milk?** ” She questioned grabbing onto my pants.

“ **Of course you can.** ” I responded setting her in her booster chair. I quickly pulled out her sippy cup and a few pieces of watermelon for her to eat. The time was nearing 7:10 AM and with my school starting at 8 I needed to get everyone ready to go. Nixon was working on his latest Sudoku puzzle at the kitchen table, Trey was watching his early morning cartoons and I still needed to get Katherine ready to go.

“ **Are you done Kitty?** " I asked, reaching for her plate. She nodded at me as she was trying to get out of her seat. I placed her cup in the sink and picked her up, carrying her to her room. I wiped the left over watermelon residue from her cheek changing her from her pajamas into a green shirt and purple pants.

“ **Braids.** ” She requested. I split her hair down the middle giving her two pigtail braids with pink bows at the end to tie them up.

7:30 AM. I have plenty of time.

“Okay Trey, turn the TV off and get your sneakers on please.” I asked softly, bringing his book bag and putting it on the couch.

“But Izzy this is one—.”

“Trey, please we don’t want to be late.” I turned to go check on Nixon.

“Did you figure that one out yet?” I questioned looking over his shoulder.

“Please I finished that one 20 minutes ago. I think I need a harder book.” He said praising himself with his intelligence.

“Can you finish those later? We need to leave before it gets too late.” 

“Yeah I’ll get Trey.” He said getting his back pack.

I walked back to where I left Katherine sitting. She was tracing the pattern on her shirt as I tapped on her shoulder. “ **Let’s go, kid.** ” I said taking her hand. I ripped my phone off the charger and grabbed my book bag from the table. As I closed the door I turned to take my keys from my pocket to securely lock it.

I strapped Katherine in her car seat and quickly pulled out of the driveway. The clock said 7:34 AM.

I first dropped Katherine off at daycare, making sure that everything was set to go. “ **I’ll be here to get you after school okay?** ” I reassured her as she started tearing up. “ **Shh Kitty, I’ll see you in a little while.** ” I comforted wiping the tears from her face and standing up.

“ **Bye Izzy.** ” She waved at me softly as she was hand in hand with her teacher, but I turned to hustle back to the car.

7:49 AM.

Dropping Trey off to school in a hurry wasn’t a good thing to do, especially when I basically landed him in his class. “Make some friends okay?” I said quickly, giving him a hug watching him take a seat at his desk.

7:56 AM.

“Nixon come on hurry!” I said, pulling into the main office.

“Can I help you?” The receptionist asked me.

“Yes, my brother and I are new and we need to pick up our schedules.” I requested.

“Names?”

“Nixon and Isaac Baldwin.”

“Ah yes, here we are.” She said, pulling out two papers from a file.

“Which one of you is Nixon?” She asked, and my brother raised his hand slowly.

“You’ll be in the first floor of E Building for your first class. You’ll have Mrs. Peter for your math class. Hand this paper to all of your teachers and have them sign it. Then turn it into the office at the end of the day,” She said handing my brother his schedule.

“You must be Isaac then. Your first class is English with Mr. Taylor. That’s the second floor of D building,” She continued. 

“We have several buildings here. A Building is where theatre, art and band students have their class. B Building is the library and the foreign language classes such as Spanish and German. C Building is the gym. D Building is the English and History based classes and E Building is for Math and Science. Buildings F and G are for the vocational classes like woodshop and parenting,”

Even though what she was saying was extremely important, I didn’t retain anything she was talking about. All I heard was a bunch of letters and classes in different parts of the school.

“B Building connects every building including the gym and lunch room so it’s not so hard to get lost. There are three different hours for lunch. I’m sure from memory you both have different lunch hours.” She thought about. I glanced down at my schedule going through each class:

1st: Literature & Composition, Mr. Taylor: D206  
2nd: P.E., Mrs. Bruner: C104   
3rd: Algebra II, Mrs. Meyer: E116  
4th: Lunch  
5th: Spanish III, Mr. Wesley: B228  
6th: Sociology, Mr. Roth: D223  
7th: Chemistry, Mrs. Ream: E221  
8th: Art II, Mr. Sanders: A114

“Now the first bell already rang for first hour to begin and I will call each of your teachers to let them know you each are running a little behind. Any other questions or concerns feel free to ask classmates or teachers. Welcome to Camden High School.” She said turning to her phone that continued to ring.

The time was 8:11 AM as we walked out of the main office.

“What lunch hour do you have?” I asked my brother sitting down on the nearby bench. He handed over his schedule to me:

1st: Geometry, Mrs. Peter: E105  
2nd: P.E., Mr. Kline: C104  
3rd: U.S. History I, Mr. Cooper: D227  
4th: Spanish I, Mr. Wesley: B228  
5th: Lunch  
6th: English I, Ms. Williams: D213  
7th: Fundamentals of Biology, Mr. Burkes: E229  
8th: Environmental Science, Ms. Grimes: E218

“Well this isn’t so bad I guess. We have the same gym hour just different teachers. Come on I’ll walk you to your class.” I said handing him is schedule and picking up my book bag.  
“You’re going to be fine okay. Don’t be on your phone during class and don’t stress about the first day. You’re going to do great,” I assured him pulling up to the closed door of his class. I clasped a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

“I’ll see you 2nd hour.” I said as I walked to my first class, leaving him there in the hallway. I guess this isn’t so bad. But it’s just the first hour of the day.

As I came to a stop, I looked down at my schedule to make sure I was at the right classroom because I didn’t want to make myself look like an idiot on the first day. I reached my hand up and knocked on the door.

“Come on in!” A man yelled from inside. I took the doorknob in my hand and pulled the door open.

“And who are you young man? I’m Mr. Taylor. Now have you ever read a book before?” He asked me. The class laughed at his question seeming as though this is naturally how he is.

“Yes, sir I have read a book before.” I answered his question.

“Well that’s good, but you never said who you were.”

“I’m Isaac Baldwin, sir.”

“Isaac what’s with this ‘sir’ nonsense? Enough with the ‘sir’ Isaac. Do I look like a ‘sir’ to you Isaac?”

“No—I mean yes it’s just—I—.” I stuttered.

“I’m just messing with you Isaac take a seat. Probably not in the front because I’ve been told I spit a lot.” He joked walking back to his seat.

“Thanks for the heads up.” I replied walking through each row before I found an open seat. With the class talking amongst themselves and random outbursts of Mr. Taylor’s humor I would say this class would be a good one.

“You said your name was Ian, right?” A voice from behind me said. A young girl with long brown, wavy hair was leaning up in her seat.

“Uh, it’s Isaac.” I corrected.

“My apologies, Isaac. Don’t mind Mr. Taylor he’s very sarcastic and he thinks he’s funnier then he actually is.” She informed me.

“I didn’t mind—that much anyway.” At 8:45 AM, the bell cut me off and everyone grabbed their bags and rushed out of the class. She ripped my schedule from my hand and looked it over.

“Hmm, well me and my boyfriend Jai are in your lunch hour so that’s a good thing. I’m also in your math class. I think Jai has chemistry that hour but I’ll have to ask him later. Just go down these stairs and across the commons to the gym. You can’t miss it.” She said taking off in a different direction.

“Wait I didn’t get your name!” I shouted after her.

“Morgan!” She hollered back at me.

Gym wasn’t so bad. I could tell Nixon was having trouble adjusting and with him being a freshman, that wasn’t making it any better.

“You’re first class was good yeah?” I asked him, after sitting for 20 minutes listening to the teachers talk about gym rules.

“Yeah I guess. It’s kinda weird being the only freshman in a sophomore class. But these two kids actually talked to me. I guess I must have done something right.” He laughed softly under his breath.

“I told you, you were gunna do great.” I praised wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

9:35 AM the bell rang to head to 3rd hour and I was a little excited to be honest. I think I would consider Morgan a ‘friend’ even though I knew nothing about her. I made my way through the crowd and finally down to the end of the long hallway.

“Isaac back here!” A familiar voice bellowed as I entered the classroom. I weaved through the chairs and placed myself in the desk next to her.

“Carly this is Isaac. I just met him this morning. Isaac this is Carly.” Morgan introduced us. Carly had shoulder length straight blonde hair with dark brown eyes.

“It’s nice to meet you.” I said lifting my hand to halfway wave at her.

“Likewise.” She said, giving me a flirtatious look. I quickly looked away hoping that she would get the idea that I don’t swing that way, that the team I play for requires completely different equipment then what she has, if you catch my drift.

The longer the day continued the longer each class seemed to be and when the bell rang at 10:25 AM for lunch I knew this day would be the longest one ever.

“Isaac come on, I want you to meet Jai.” Morgan said pulling on the hood of my jacket and dragging me to the lunch room.

“Come on let’s go get a burger or something. I’m sure Jai already got his food.” She said still pulling me along with her.

“So where are you from?” She questioned me.

“I’m from Nebraska.” I responded. She nodded her head at me as we moved forward in line.

“Any siblings, parents, family members of any kind?” She pushed.

“Yeah um, my dad who is the reason we moved here just became the new lawyer in town. My mom luckily enough got her job to transfer her here as well—.”

“And what does she do?” Morgan jumped in.

“She’s a writer.”

“My sister Harper majored in writing, but only went to college for a year, but then there is my brother Grayson who is a sophomore. He’s the youngest in our family and has a huge crush on Jai’s sister Hannah who’s also a sophomore. But Gray can’t go out with her because that would like incest or something right? I mean I’m already going out with Jai, so if Hannah does date my brother wouldn’t that be like me dating my own brother?” She rambled on.

“I have two younger brothers, Nixon who’s a freshman and Trey who’s in third grade. Then there is my youngest sister Katherine who’s in daycare because she’s just three.” I said changing the awkward subject.

“Jai has a younger brother who’s three! Miles is the sweetest little thing ever. What daycare did you put her in?” She asked getting really excited.

“Umm, I think it was called ‘Camden Care’ or something like that.” I said unsure of myself.

“Yeah that’s the one! Man do we get a long or what? We all have so much in common its crazy.” She announced. Her phone dinged twice in a row before she grabbed it out of her pocket looking down at the screen.

“Ah man.” She breathed out.

“Is everything alright?” I asked grabbing a tray for myself.

“No, Jai wasn’t feeling well so he went home. Excuse me I’m going to call him.” She said, dialing a number on her phone and putting it to her ear.  
The rest of the lunch hour was spent listening to her ramble on about her life, social and personal. I mean I guess one friend is better than none am I right? Occasionally from time to time I would see Nixon in the hallway, his face glued to the phone in his hand.

“Hey little bro, only two more classes left. How’s the day going for you so far?” I asked him.

“I made friends Isaac! Actual friends!” He exclaimed. “I first met them in math and then we have the same lunch hour. They asked me if I wanted to eat with them and we exchanged numbers and I have been texting them all day!” He shouted.

“That’s great Nixon, honestly I’m proud of you.”

“Have you gotten most of your signatures yet?” He questioned as we walked in the hallway.

“Crap I forgot to get my sociology teachers. I’ll have to catch up with you later.” I said, bolting off to my previous class.

I quickly walked into the class before he started lecturing about the new school year and handed him the paper. He rushed to get the paper signed that way I wouldn’t be late for my next class.

“Jai Barker?” Mrs. Ream, my chemistry teacher called out as I walked into her classroom. I handed her the pass that Mr. Roth had written for me.

“Take a seat Mr. Baldwin.” She instructed. I was at least glad that a familiar name was in this class.

At the end of the day going through the rest of my classes was a blur. Most of my teachers would talk for about ten minutes and we, the students were left sitting on our phones, something that my teachers didn’t care if we were on or not.

_To Nixon: Meet me at my car right after school._

_From Nixon: My friends wanted me to hang out after school._

_To Nixon: Not today buddy, I’ll have to meet them first. Besides we have to pick Trey up from school at 3:15 and Katherine at 3:30._

_From Nixon: Ugh… fine._

The final bell rang at 3:00 PM for dismissal. Everyone stood outside the school catching up with old friends and chatting about hanging out later that day. Everyone but me.

“Took you long enough.” Nixon said as I unlocked the door.

“Hush.” I responded.

Silently we drove back the same way we came in the morning picking up Trey first. I parked the car along the side of the road and got out to wait outside the school, leaving Nixon to wait in the car.

It was like a mad heard of elementary school children was headed towards me when the bell rang. Teachers scrambled to keep kids from running out in the street to their parents. I searched among the small children looking for my brother. Red shirt, red shirt, where is a red shirt.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a red blur as Trey ran into my leg, hugging it tightly. I picked him up and squeezed him tight. Moments like these I realized that I don’t spend as much time with Trey as I do with Katherine or Nixon, probably because he never complained about wanting attention from me. And I felt like I was ignoring him to be honest whenever he did want to hang out, either because I had homework, I had to make dinner, or whatever the excuse was.

“Hey buddy. You ready to go home?” I asked as I put him back down on the pavement. He grabbed ahold of my hand as we walked down the stairs onto the sidewalk.

“Does the Ninja Turtles still come on at four?” He questioned as I buckled him into his safety seat.

“I don’t know little man,” I answered honestly. “Why don’t we check when we get home?” I suggested getting back in the driver’s seat, starting the car again.

“Trey stop kicking my seat.” Nixon blurted out randomly. A few seconds passed and he said it again.

“Trey I mean it stop.”

“I’m not bothering no one.” He pouted.

“You’re bothering me now cut it out before—.”

“Nixon,” I cut in. “Trey settle down please.” I said calmly.

“Fine.” He caved in. I found a parked in the closest parking spot I could find and left my brothers to wait in the car.

“I’m here to pick up Katherine Baldwin.” I told the lady at the front desk.

“One moment please.” She requested as she dialed a number into her phone.

“Hey Rebekah, Isaac is here for Katherine,” she said hanging up the phone. “She’ll be out shortly.” She informed me.

A few seconds passed and Katherine came out with who I would take to be Rebekah, holding onto her hand tightly. Once she got a glance of me she flew out of the young woman’s grasp and into mine. I picked her up in my arms and kissed her cheek.

“She’s very smart that one. I was truly amazed with her knowledge,” she praised Katherine, tightening her bows in her hair. Katherine had her arms wrapped so tight around my neck that she was almost choking me.

“I’m Rebekah Watson, Katherine’s teacher.” She said giving me a bright smile.

“I’m Isaac Baldwin, Katherine’s brother.” I said reaching out my hand. She took ahold of it and shook it.

“I know.” She said dropping it and walking away back into the ROOM as I put Katherine down on the ground.

“ **Do you like your teacher?** ” I asked taking her book bag off her shoulders.

“ **Miss Bekah is pretty.** ”

“ **I think you’re pretty. Did you have fun today?** ”

“ **I wanted to play with you. I was sad when you left because I play with you but now you are here so I am happy.** ” She said as a smile came to her face. 

I picked her up again, hugging her tightly against me. She grabbed both of my cheeks, pinching them with her chubby hands and pushing them together making her laugh. The sound of her laugh was the best sound on the planet with no discussion about it. I strapped her into her car seat and jabbed my hand into my pocket to grab my keys.

“Damn, I’ll be right back.” I said getting out of the car and walking back into the building. I looked on the floor in every crevice and crack until I finally found them underneath the counter of the front desk. I bent down to pick them up and smacked my head on the hard surface.

“You okay?” A deep voice from the side said.

“Were you watching me?” I asked, that being the first thing to come to my mind.

“No, I—uh, uh, I—uh just—I saw you fall.” He stuttered.

“Uh-huh, and you just happen to be hanging out in a children’s daycare.” I said, rubbing the back of my pounding head.

“I have family that goes here.” He responded.

“Oh— wow, I didn’t mean to be insensitive. I'm sorry it's the pain, it’s making me confused. And then back there, I’m pretty sure there was this— this creepy old lady, and it was like Shutter Island for a second—.” I stopped myself before I could ramble on any longer then I already had. “I'm Isaac.”

“I'm Jai.”

“Don’t we have chemistry together?”

“Oh, so you’re the guy Morgan won’t stop talking about. Yeah that’s me. Sorry I flaked today, I just wasn’t feeling like myself.” He explained.

“Right I get it. It’s understandable,” He reached down and picked up my keys that still lay on the floor.

“Thanks. Are you picking up Miles?”

“Oh. Umm, how do you know that?” He wondered.

“No, no. It's just, I mean, Morgan told me that you have a younger brother who goes to the same place as my sister. I’m not like a stalker or anything like that.” I said rambling on again.

“Did you hurt yourself?” He asked changing the subject.

“Hmm?”

“Did you hurt yourself?” He asked again.

“Really, it's nothing,” I assured him. “Are you going to be at school tomorrow?” I asked breaking the silence.

“Hopefully.” He said with his one word response.

“Well my family is waiting for me outside. I’ll see you hopefully tomorrow.” I said to him.

“Hopefully.” He said once again as I turned to leave the building. I sat back in the driver’s side and put the keys in the ignition.

“Trey only an hour of cartoons. Do you have homework?” I asked as he sat down in front of the TV.

“Just a paper that mom has to sign.”

“Alright. If you ask Nixon maybe he will help you with basketball before it gets dark out.” I suggested. “One hour Trey. I mean it.” I said leaving him to stare at the TV.

_From Mom: Hey Izzy I’m swamped here at work and won’t be home until after dinner._

_To Mom: It’s okay Mom. I have everything under control._

_From Mom: And your father is dealing with several new clients and won’t be back until after midnight._

_To Mom: It’s okay really. I’m going to make some grilled chicken with mashed potatoes and peas. Is that alright?_

_From Mom: Yes dear that is perfectly fine. I will talk to you when I get home._

“Nixon!” I called for my brother.

“You don’t have to shout.” He said walking into the kitchen with Katherine at his side.

“Can you look after Katherine while I get dinner ready?” I asked, getting ingredients out from the refrigerator.

“Yeah I guess. I have homework I have to do so she’ll have to sit at the table with me then.”

“Can you get started with the homework then? Trey wants you to help him with his basketball.”

“Doesn’t Trey have homework too? And why can’t you help him? You know I’m no good at sports, even dad says so.” Nixon whined, taking his homework out of his bag. Katherine ran into the living room and I followed after her. She planted herself next to Trey on the ground and stared at the TV.

“Trey, can you watch Katherine for a little while? Make sure that she doesn’t go anywhere by herself.” I asked him.

“Give me an extra hour of cartoons.”

“30 minutes.”

“Fine I’ll watch her.” Trey said caving in.

“You know my Fundamentals of Biology teacher is a total douche.” Nixon said as I walked back into the kitchen.

“Hey now, watch yourself,” I warned. “And he can’t be a douche if he cares about the learning ability of his students.”

“It’s just he expects so much more than the teachers in Nebraska. It’s really hard and it’s only the first day.”

“Is that the only homework you have?” I questioned.

“Yeah.”

“Hurry up and finish. That way you’ll be free to do whatever you want for the rest of the night.” I said starting on the chicken.

In two hours time I had finished dinner, cleaned the dishes, Nixon finished his homework, Trey stopped watching TV, and Katherine was sitting at the table coloring in her book. As the clock struck 8 PM it was time for Katherine to go to sleep. I helped her earlier with her bath while Trey convinced Nixon to help him with his basketball for at least 15 minutes.

I settled Katherine into her bed with freshly brushed teeth, tucking her in tight.

“ **Now if you need anything come get me okay? I should be up for a little while longer.** ”

“ **I love you.** ” She said her eyes getting pretty heavy already.

“ **I love you, too baby girl. Sweet dreams.** ” I said leaning down to kiss her cheek. I leaned down to switch her night light on before shutting her door for the night.

At 9 PM, Trey and Nixon sat on the couch watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory.

“Trey enough TV and go brush your teeth.”

“Izzy—.”

“Don’t ‘Izzy’ me. You begged to stay up later than usual and you know how you are in the mornings. Please Trey I don’t want to ask you again.” I explained to him. He huffed and practically shoulder checked me as he ran passed me.

“You can’t say that you didn’t act like that when you were eight.” Nixon said trying to defend his younger brother.

“I just want what’s best for him. For all of you. That way you don’t have to grow up and be trouble makers.” I admitted turning away to check on Trey.

“You know something? For someone who was never ‘trained’ to look after three minors, you’re not doing as bad as you think.” He mentioned in the most sincere way.  
“Don’t stay up too late.”

“Are you going to bed?” He asked quickly.

“No I need to stay up until mom gets home. Why is something wrong?” I questioned.

“No, no. No just wondering is all. I’m a little beat so I think I’ll check on Trey for you and then go on to bed. Goodnight.” Nixon explained.

“Alright. Have a good night buddy.” I said walking over to the couch.

“Actually,” Nixon said poking his head around from behind the wall. “Um—I know that—uh we don’t say this much—or at all—but I uh—I love you Isaac. And I uh—just want you to know that.” He stuttered quickly before turning and running up the stairs, leaving before I could reply.

(TIME PASS)

Stop tapping me.

Stop tapping me.

Now you are shaking me.

Stop shaking me.

Fine! I’ll get up.

The on-going war in my head stopped as soon as I opened my droopy eyes to find my mother in front of me.

“Go to bed, sweetheart is after 11 PM.” She said softly, not wanting to wake the others.

“Wait, Trey needs you to sign a paper for school tomorrow.” I said before she could take off to her room. I grabbed the paper from the magnet on the fridge and handed it to her. She quickly looked over it and signed it, sticking it back in its place.

“Goodnight dear.” She said a final time.

I made my way from the front door of my house to my room up above the garage. My sanctuary, my domain. 

I’m home.


	5. Tuesday, Sept. 4th: You're On My Mind You're In My Heart

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

The school bell rang at the end of the day at the usual time which in my opinion was the best time of the day. But today I found myself rushing around a school that I was still getting lost in looking for my apparently new best friend Jai. Everyone in this school looked the same to me and I looked foolish when I would walk up to who I thought was Jai, and tap on their shoulder realizing it was actually a girl.

And Jai didn’t look like a girl at all. His hair was very well kept which I assumed he conditions twice when he showers, not that I think about that at all because I wouldn’t even consider dating Jai. Just something about him reminds me so much of myself.

When I lost all hope on finding Jai I resorted to finding Morgan, but I threw that idea out the window when I spotted someone I knew. Blonde Carly from my third hour math class was taking a water bottle from the vending machine and I pushed my way through the crowd of people before she could get away.

“Carly!” I yelled at her when she started walking away. She stopped and turned around like she was completely lost.

“Over here.” I said coming up on her left side.

“Hey Isaac.”

“I’m so glad I ran into you. Do you know where Jai went?” I asked, my breathing a little uneven.

“Why do you wanna know?”

“Does it matter why? I have to talk to him.” I said getting annoyed.

“Umm,” She started spinning around to look at her surroundings. “I’m pretty sure he has detention because he was late to one of his classes. At least that’s what Morgan told me.”  
“Do you know what class?” I asked getting a little impatient.

“I think it was with Mr. Taylor.” She finished and I bolted in the other direction. I climbed the stairs and down the English hallway where Mr. Taylor’s class was and I saw Morgan sitting on the ground against the wall outside his classroom.

“Morgan? What are you going?” I asked sitting down beside her.

“Waiting for Jai. He has an hour detention because he was late two days in a row.” She explained.

“Can you do me a favor?” I asked. She nodded her head sitting up a little straighter.

“Can you have Jai meet me at Rainbow Music?”

(TIME PASS)

“Excuse me. Collin was it?” I asked shyly.

“Yeah did you need help with something?” He questioned.

“Yeah I was wondering if you had any Silversun Pickups available?” He laughed softly under his breath.

“Kid we haven’t gotten any new music for about 20 years now. I would recommend iTunes or something.” He admitted.

“I think I’m going to look around some more. Thanks though.” I said walking away.

Looking up the aisles for any of my favorite artists like The Fray, OneRepublic, Imagine Dragons, things along those lines and there was nothing close. Things like Barry Manalo and Tina Turner were hoarding the shelves of the store.

“Hey Isaac, what’s up man?” A voice called just as the bell on the door jingled.

“Oh hey, how’s it going?” I asked Jai as he entered the store.

“I wouldn’t check everything out in one trip, otherwise you’ll have nothing else to do the rest of the time you’re here.” He joked walking up to me, I laughed slightly under my breath still looking at the music selection.

“Where’s the little ones?” He asked.

“Nixon is looking after them. I’m paying him five bucks.” I stated.

“I uh—I was told from Morgan that you wanted me to meet you here?” He explained although it came out as a question.

“I mean it was a stupid idea to ask you to come all the way down here. Just forget it.” I said still scanning through the music.

“Isaac, c’mon something is clearly bothering you.”

This seemed like a good idea when I thought of it this morning. Then it seemed like an even better idea at lunch and even better than that when I looked for him after school. But now I’m not so sure if telling him I’m gay would be a good thing after all. What if he thought I liked him? What if he didn’t want to be my friend anymore? What if I tell him and it ruins everything?

“Are we friends?” I questioned, thinking that was a good place to start.

“I would consider you my friend, even go as far as saying my best friend,” He paused. “Even though I’ve only known you for one day. And I know that sounds creepy and awkward at the same time so I apologize if I’ve made things like that.” He rambled.

“No not at all—but I think what I’m about to tell you might make things that way.” I said taking a huge breath in.

“What do you mean?” He said looking in my eyes.

“I’m gay.” I whispered so the owner couldn’t hear.

“Okay. How does that make things creepy and awkward between us?” He questioned taking a drink of the Pepsi in his hand.

“It doesn’t bother you?” I asked lifting my head up in surprise.

“Isaac, Morgan smelled you out the minute you talked to her. Of course she told me already and she is rarely ever wrong. Although I was a little skeptic considering how deep your voice is but that doesn’t have anything to do with it. Just a stereotype I guess.”

“You don’t care? I mean we’re still friends?” I questioned, the fear in my body seemed to be disappearing.

“Does it really matter if you’re gay or not? You’re still my best friend and you would still be my best friend if you we’re purple with zebra stripes.” He said putting a hand on my shoulder.

“Since we have that out of the way, I forgot to tell you at school, but since you’re new you probably don’t know about the party tonight. It’s a back-to-school thing at the caves and everyone goes, not necessarily to celebrate the new school year but mostly just to get wasted and stoned.”

“I don’t do that kinda stuff—it’s just not me, I probably wouldn’t fit in with any of that it’s not really my scene.” I explained.

“You don’t have to do any of it. Just come and meet some new people, maybe make some friends to be a part of your non-scene.” He begged.

“Are you going?” I asked.

“Yeah and Morgan is coming. So bail on all this excitement you clearly seem to be having and come to the party of your life.”

“I’ll think about it.” I said.

“That’s all I can ask for. You better go and if you don’t I’ll kick your ass.” Jai said turning and leaving the store.

“Oh Jai wait!” I yelled after him. He stopped in his tracks holding the door open with his left hand. “Would it be weird if I asked for your number?” I questioned while he silently laughed underneath his breath walking back towards me. He reached in my jacket pocket and pulled out my phone, taking a picture of himself then entering in his number.

“Text me anytime.” He finished handing my phone back to me. I quickly unlocked my phone and sent him a quick text.

_To Jai Barker: What time should I be there?_

_From Jai Barker: I knew you couldn’t resist._

(TIME PASS)  
“Nixon can you watch after them for the rest of the night?” I asked. It was already after 7PM and I was just considering bailing on the whole party. Even though I was surprised at how good my outfit went together I couldn’t let this chance pass at showing it off.

“Isaac I can’t I have so much to do.” He said simply.

“Hello boys!” My mother yelled from the front door. Nixon sighed in relief as he left the living room.

“Mom what are you doing here?” I questioned.

“You’re father got let off work early tonight and I finished my article for the paper so he’s making a nice dinner for us.” She explained.

“About that, can I go out?” I asked.

“Where?” She questioned getting cooking supplies out of the cabinets.

“To the uh—,” I paused. “The diner with Jai. To study.” I said. That was the first time I lied to my mother. I was not proud of that even though it made me feel free in a way that was hard to explain.

“Is this a study date?” My mom asked.

“Mom,” I dragged out. Of course everyone in my family knew, it’s kinda hard to keep it a secret for almost five years. My dad was the only one who didn’t really ‘accept’ it, but that wasn’t a shocker either. He didn’t disown me or toss me out on the street, he just said, ‘I don’t believe in things like that” and left things as they were. All the bad I talk about him doesn’t give him the credit he deserves for being a good man.

“It’s not like that and you know it.” I finished.

“I suppose as long as I get to meet this Jai in person.” She bargained.

“You can count on it.” I said taking my jacket from the kitchen chair.

“Bye mom.” I said closing the front door behind me.

(TIME PASS)

(Nixon’s P.O.V: Seven hours earlier)

“Ten kegs? You know how much fun we could have with ten kegs? Damon's got it all hooked up.” Grayson whispered to Hannah shoving a bite of cheeseburger into his mouth. 

“Damon's a douche.” Hannah said rolling an apple across the lunch table.  
“Yeah, a douche with ten kegs. Aka my new best friend,” Grayson mumbled with food in his mouth. I laughed underneath my breath.

“What's the problem, Baldwin?” He asked me swallowing his chewed up food.

“Don't have one, Moseley.” I spat back jokingly taking a drink of my water.

“Yeah, I didn't think so.” He said taking another bite.

“Do you ever get bored of it?” Hannah asked randomly.

“Of what?” He questioned still with his mouth full.

“Yourself.” She said simply grabbing a French fry off of my plate. I laughed again.

“Keep laughing, buddy.” He said throwing a wadded up napkin at my face.

“Hey, Nixon. Where’s Isaac? I've been avoiding him and Jai all day because of Damon's party. I know Jai’s going and he’ll for sure bring your brother along.” She explained.

“Uh, he’s in class.” I said in an ‘obviously’ tone.

“That’s good. I didn’t want them to sneak up on us while we were talking about the party.” She reassured.

“Who's Damon?” I asked.

“Some guy that graduated a couple of years ago. He's a total ass, but he buys the beer. You should come.” She said grabbing another fry, chewing it slowly.

“Uh, yeah, I don't think so.” I said looking down at my food.

“No, seriously everyone goes even quiet loner little brothers. Think about it.” She finished as the lunch bell rang.

(TIME PASS: Present)

Frat parties like these reminded me of the ones I used to go to in Nebraska. But the difference between the two are simple really. In Camden, the people in this town find it easy to trust everyone around them because they believe that nothing bad is going to happen, that there are no lies and no secrets. But the truth is the small town kids are sneakier and more deceptive then the big city folks.

“Hey! You made it!” Jai yelled from around the fire pit.

“I did.”

“Well, let's get you a drink.”

“Well, I'm—.”

“Oh, come on.” He said grabbing onto my arm pulling me towards the alcohol. He pulled out a beer from the cooler, opened it and handed it to me.

“Thanks.” I said.

“Jai!” Morgan yelled from behind him. When he turned to the voice I dumped most of the bottle onto the ground, making it look like I had drank most of it.

“Hey Isaac!” Morgan said a little louder than needed, clearly she was a little tipsy already. My phone began to buzz in my pocket and it was my father’s name that popped up on the screen. I walked away into the woods to have some silence to talk.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Where the hell did you go?” He spat at me.

“I’m at the diner.” I said still holding onto that lie.

“You know it’s a school night and if you don’t keep doing your homework you’re not going to be able to get a scholarship.”

“Dad I know that, I’m studying right now.”

“I expect you home before 11PM.” He said hanging up on me. When I glanced up from the phone I realized I wandered into an old cemetery. I took a seat on one of the benches in front of a mausoleum.

“Tyson?” A startling voice from behind me questioned. I turned to look at the person who called at me. This was probably the most gorgeous boy I had ever seen, although he looked around my age you could not call him a boy with those features. His dark brown hair sticking up in a perfect quaff and his glowing blue eyes staring at me in confusion.

I looked over my shoulder to check and see if anyone was there. When I saw no one I simply responded, “No um—I’m not— I’m Isaac.”

“Oh, you— you just look— I’m sorry, you just really remind me of someone. I’m Penner.”

“Not to be rude or anything, Penner, but it’s kind of creepy that you’re out here in the middle of nowhere.” I said biting on my lip slightly.

“You’re one to talk, you’re out here all by yourself.” He smirked, walking over to sit on the same bench as me.

“It’s Camden nothing bad ever seems to happen here.” I explained as he took a seat next to me, our knees almost touching. As extremely awkward as this was with me just meeting him and all I didn’t want to move away. I just felt like we had a connection.

“I got into a fight with my dad.” I confessed, trying to keep the conversation going so he wouldn’t leave.

“About what, may I ask?” He questioned, holding his hands up as if at gun point.

“Life, future, he’s got it all mapped out for me.”

“And you don’t want it?”

“I don’t know what I want.” I stated, turning my head away looking into the dark forest.

“Well, that’s not true, you want what everybody wants.” He said not taking his eyes off of me.

“What, mysterious stranger who has all the answers?” I questioned turning my head back to look at him. He was a lot closer than I thought he was going to be and I almost smacked him in the face with my forehead. He just kept on staring at me, not looking away for even one moment.

“So, Penner, tell me, what is it that I want?” I whispered breaking the silence, not wanting to make a huge mistake. 

“You want a love that consumes you. You want passion, an adventure, and even a little danger.” He said slowly still not breaking his eye contact with me. 

“So, what do you want?” I wondered.

“I want you to get everything that you’re looking for, but right now I want you to forget that this happened. I can’t have people knowing that I’m in town yet. Goodnight, Isaac.” He reassured, backing away slowly before completely getting up.

“Are you going somewhere?” I asked, wanting to follow him if he was. 

“I never liked to be the last one to leave a party. It’s too desperate.” He said taking one last glance at me before heading off back in the other direction. I stood up and went back the way I came spotting Jai sitting under the shelter talking with some of the baseball players. I started walking over towards him when Blonde Carly stopped me in my tracks.

“Hey! There you are. Have you been down to the falls yet? Because they are really cool at night. And I can show you. If you want.” She said tracing her finger along my arm.

“I think you've had too much to drink.” I said taking her hand off me.

“Well, of course I have! So—.” She started.

“Carly. You and me, it's not gonna happen. Sorry.” I said walking around her meeting up with Jai.

“I was wondering who abducted you, but now I know.” Jai said not seeming to notice I left in the first place.

“Is she like that with all the guys?” I questioned.

“No. You're fresh meat. She'll back off eventually.” He said taking another swig of his beer. He got up suddenly and threw up in the nearest trash can. 

“Hi.” Penner said standing in front of me all of the sudden. I jumped slightly, almost falling down before Penner grabbed onto my hand.

“Hi.” I breathed, laughing a little underneath my breath.

“I did it again, didn't it?” He questioned letting go of my hand slowly.

“Yeah. I thought that you were leaving?” I asked following after Penner as he took off towards the bridge connecting the caves.

“I decided to stick around a little longer. You're upset about something.” He worried, looking deep into my eyes like he was hoping to find something there.

“Oh, uh, no, it's- it's just Jai. He's— you know what? Never mind. You're still here.” I rambled on, stopping myself short.

“I'm here.” He reassured taking off again.

“You know, you're kind of the talk of the town.” I said starting the conversation again, trying to catch up with him.

“Am I?” He questioned slowing down so I could catch up with him.

“Mm-Hmm. Mysterious new guy, oh, yeah.” I joked.

“Well, you have the mysterious thing going, too. Drenched in sadness.”

“What makes you think that I'm sad?” I asked looking down at the ground.

“Well, we did meet in a graveyard.” He said, a smile coming to my face.

“Right. Well, you don't want to know, it's— it’s not exactly party chit-chat.” I said still keeping my eyes on the ground.

“Well, I've never really been very good at, uh, chit-chat.” He confessed.

“Um I just moved here from Nebraska and nothing seems to be going my way right now. So that's my story.”

“You won't be sad forever, Isaac.” He said staring into my eyes once again. A blur from behind him drew my attention and I saw Nixon walking, more like tripping and falling into the woods.

“God, you gotta be kidding me!” I spoke breathing the moment between Penner and me.

“What is it?” He asked, turning around to look at what I was staring at.  
“My brother.” I breathed.

“The drunk one?”

“That would be the one. Excuse me.” I said moving passed him.

“Need some help?” He offered.

“Trust me, you're not going to want to witness this. Nixon! Nixon!” I called taking off after my brother.

“Nixon, where the hell are you going?” I questioned as he went deeper into the forest.

“I don't want to hear it!” He yelled back at me, tripping over a log on the ground.

“Yeah, well, too bad.” I said going over to check on him. He just continued to stay on the ground, not getting up to leave I reached down to grab his face in my hands.

“Nixon. Why are you drunk? How are you even here?” I asked him. When he didn’t reply I lightly slapped his cheeks wanting him to focus.

“Nixon come on get up. We’re going home now.” I said trying to lift him to his feet.

“Get away from me I’m trying to find somebody.” He said getting out of my grasp.

“What the hell, Nixon? Put your head up, you're bleeding.” I said trying to grab his face again.

“I'm fine!” He shouted at me

“Yeah, you smell fine how much have you had to drink?”

“Just stop, okay?” He said taking off in the direction that he came from.

(Nixon’s P.O.V: Eight minutes earlier)

“I said no. Ow, that hurts.” I heard Hannah say from behind a tree.

“Hey leave her alone.” I said cutting into the conversation.

“You know you’re starting to get on my nerves Baldwin.” He said walking towards me.

“Go away Grayson get the hell away from me.” She said pushing Grayson further away.

“Wow, Hannah Barker says no. That’s a first.” He said looking at her then to me before walking away.

“I didn't need your help.” She said brushing off some dirt on her pants.

“It seems like you did.”

“He was just drunk.” She defended.

“I'm drunk. Am I throwing myself at you?” I questioned.

“No, you're worse. You want to talk to me, get to know me, see into my soul and screw and screw and screw until you're done with me.” She explained.

“Is that what you think?” I asked again.

“That's what I know.” She said clipping my shoulder as she walked away.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

Instead of taking Nixon into the house I dragged him up to my room and made him sleep there for the night.

“Isaac I didn’t mean to.”

“Didn’t mean to what? Sneak out of the house and get wasted at some party? What were you thinking? What lie did you have to tell mom and dad to let you leave to house?” I hounded.

“You lied too! You lied just like I did! How does that make it okay for you?” He yelled.

“People are going to stop giving you breaks, Nixon. They just don't care anymore. They've got their own lives to deal with. The rest of the world moves on.” I said ending the conversation.

After 30 minutes or so of constant coffee refills I asked him, “Are you sober yet?”

He took a deep breath and tried sitting up before answering, “No.” and laying his head back down.

“Keep drinking. I have to get you to bed because it’s almost midnight and we have that thing called school tomorrow. Not to mention you’re going to have a major hangover in the morning.”

“Fine just take me to my room already. I’ll sleep it off.” He said standing up. I grabbed onto his arm and helped him down my stairs, through the house as quiet as possible and into his bed.

I quickly left my house and out the front door when I bumped into something. Or someone.

“I know it's late.” Penner said grabbing onto my arm. His blue eyes seemed to glow under the moonlight.

“How did you know where I lived?” I whispered taking off in direction of my room.

“It’s a small town. I asked the first person I saw, but—uh— I needed to know that you were okay.” Penner explained following behind me.

“You know, for months, that's all anyone's wondered about me. If I'll be okay.” I explained stepping inside the garage.

“What do you tell them?”

“That I'll be fine.” I said walking up the stairs.

“Do you ever mean it?” He asked from behind me.

“Ask me tomorrow,” I started. “It's warmer in my room. We can talk. Would you like to come in?” I asked opening the door, stepping aside to invite him in.

“Yes.” He answered taking a step into my room and closing the door behind him.


	6. Wednesday, Sept. 5th: If You Ask Me How I'm Doing

(Isaac's P.O.V)

Each morning gets better with the time especially considering the fact that all of us don’t have to race around the house in a mad dash. Even though Nixon was walking around in slow motion with an enormous hangover things were still going smoothly. Mom doesn’t have to into work until later in the morning now so she takes Katherine and Trey to school most days.  
“Here take these,” I whispered to my brother, slipping two Advil’s in his hand. “They’ll help.”

“Can we just go?” He asked throwing the pills in his mouth.

The ride to school was awkward. There was no background music because Nixon turned it off due to his headache so I was left to hearing nothing but myself breathing.

Pulling into the school parking lot I saw Jai and Morgan have their annual before school make out session. Seeming as I am not included in that certain action I headed into the building to fill my book bag up with folders and notebooks I needed for the day.

“Oh my gosh! He’s here!” A girl yelled running past me joining the huge group crowding around the main office window.

“Isaac what’s going on?” Nixon said walking up to me. I shut my locker and swung my back pack strap over my shoulder.

“I have no idea.” I said fighting my way through the crowd of girls trying to get to my first class.

Morgan came running in just as the bell rang still patting her hair down.  
“How was the party Isaac? Amazing right?” She said starting the conversation.

“Yeah it was alright,” I responded facing forward.

“So did you see him this morning?” She asked breaking the silence.

“See who?”

“Well a couple years ago there was a local kid who got discovered on YouTube for his vocal skills. He got this huge record deal and went on tour in several different countries and no one has seen him since. I guess the story is his touring ended and he’s back for a few months to settle down again.” She explained. 

Local superstar? That sounded like a really big cliché teenage movie that’s been done over and over again.

English class was the same as any other English class. Mr. Taylor handed out books to everyone, “The Great Gatsby” was an instant classic with in my opinion some unneeded chapters and details, but hey who am I to judge an original idea. Yes I’ve read this book already as a sophomore back in Nebraska. This was sure going to be great!

“Mr. Taylor can I go to the restroom?” I asked wanting to get out of the class.

“I don’t know Isaac can you use to restroom?” He joked.

“May I use the restroom?”

“Sure you may.” He said.

I walked out the classroom, down the long hallway when a voice called after me.

“Isaac!”

“Penner? Why do you always pop up in the most random places?” I questioned, stopping in my tracks.

“I go to school here.”

“Really? I haven’t seen you around.”

“The same can be said for you. Oh this is a great opportunity to give this to you,” He said reaching into his book bag. “I brought it. Told you.” He said handing a book to me.

“‘Wuthering Heights’ by Ellis Bell. You know, I can't believe she didn't use her real name.” I said remembering one of our conversations from last night.

“All the Bronte sisters used pseudonyms. It was a time where female writers weren't very accepted.” He explained like it was common knowledge off the top of his brain.

“Where did you get it?” I asked flipping through the pages, being extra careful not the rip the pages.

“Uh, it was passed down through the family.”

“Ah.”

“I have lots of books, go ahead keep it.”

“Oh, no—I, but I would like to read it again. I promise I'll give it back.” I reassured.

“Okay.” He said smiling at me.

“Don’t you have a class to be in?” I questioned.

“Um, not this hour.”

“Oh well have you seen the school superstar? Apparently he is a huge deal around here. I guess not that big of a deal if I’ve never heard of him.” I rambled.

“Uh—yeah I haven’t seen him.”

“Oh really? I thought I was the only one who hasn’t, I guess I’m not alone then.” I continued to ramble on.

“Yeah you sure aren’t alone.” He finished. Standing in silence for a couple seconds needed to end.

“Well I have to get back to class but I hope to see you around.” I said taking off back to my class.

“Wait what lunch hour do you have?” He yelled down to me.

“Fourth!”

“I’ll see you then!” I said rounding the corner.

(TIME PASS)

Lunch time came in a rush and I was glad that it did because I wanted to talk to Penner more. Everything about him was so natural, like you didn’t have to try hard at keeping the conversation going.

“Hey Isaac.”

“Penner.”

“Can I sit here with you?” He asked pointing to the empty chair.

“Yeah totally.” He pulled the chair out and sat down.

“So what’s good here?” He questioned.

“Absolutely nothing.” I joked. He laughed slightly under his breath while I realized everyone who walked by our table stared.

“I thought I finally started blending in here. People can’t seem to take their eyes off me.” I said taking a sip of my water.

“I don’t think they were looking at you.”

“Oh so you think it was you they were looking at then?” I asked flirtatiously.  
“Yeah actually I do.” He laughed. “I’m gunna go get some food, I’ll be back in a sec.” He said pushing his chair in.

“You know Penner?” Morgan said pulling Isaac along by his jacket sleeve.  
“Yeah I guess, I met him last night at the party and then he came over to my house and we just talked.” I said taking another drink.

“So then what?” Jai asked

“So then nothing.” 

“You and Penner talked all night? There was no sloppy first kiss or touchy feely of any kind?” He said wanting every detail.

“Nope we didn't go there because it’s not like that.”

“Not even a handshake? I mean, Isaac, we are your friends, okay you are supposed to share the smut.” Morgan said scooting in closer.

“We just talked for hours.” I reassured.

“Okay, what is with the blockage? Just jump his bones already okay, it's easy. You like him, he likes you, sex!” She said a little too loudly.

“Profound. Wait how do you know Penner?” I questioned.

“Well he’s the—.”

“I didn’t realize you were friends with Jai.” Penner said walking back to the table empty handed.

“Yeah I met Morgan on my first day and she introduced me to Jai.” I explained. Morgan pulled Jai up by his hand as they went and got in line for some food.

“How do you know Jai?”

“He and Morgan used to be my best friends before I went away.” He explained.

“Went away—you don’t have to tell me if it’s really personal.” I assured after realizing I was butting into his business. 

“No it’s okay. I went away for a couple years trying to get my record deal going.”

“Oh that’s so—wait,” I said when something clicked in my head. “Record deal?” I asked. He nodded his head slowly at me.

“Are you the local superstar?” I whispered softly, not wanting anyone else to here.

“Is that a problem?” He whispered back.

“You let me insult you in the hallway earlier and you didn’t say anything then!” I shouted way too loudly.

“Keep it down,” He said laughing. “I just told you I’m a famous musician and you’re worried about what you said about me in the hallway?”

“It was rude.” I said.

“That was probably the nicest thing anyone has said about me so don’t worry about it.” He reassured. Sitting in silence for a good five minutes just staring at Penner seemed a little creepy when I thought about it.

“Don’t get quiet on me now.” He said snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Sorry,” I apologized. “So why don’t Morgan and Jai like you anymore?” I asked gesturing to the table across the room.

“After I left we tried to keep in touch but it fell out after a few weeks. They thought that I just forgot about them or were ignoring them when I tried to call.” He explained.

“Are you here for good?” I asked.

“I’ve been on tour for two years straight trying to get my career on track. I’m only here for four months and then I’m off again.” 

“That’s not a very long time.” I spoke.

“Long time for what?” He asked.

“That’s not a very long time for me to get to know you.” I responded as the lunch bell rang.

“That’s plenty of time if we do it right,” He finished heading off in the opposite direction as me. “Meet me after school Isaac! By the gym!” He yelled across the room.

_To Nixon: I’m meeting someone after school. Just wait by the car until I get there._

_To Isaac: I’m actually going out with some friends._

_To Nixon: No you’re not, not after what happened last night._

Then there was no response.

(TIME PASS)

You know how you are looking forward to something all day and the more you think about it the slower it goes by before it actually comes? Yeah this would happen to be the longest day of my life. I was trying to focus on other things, like not paying attention to the ticking clock on the wall but that wasn’t working out too well.

When the final bell rang I bolted out of my Art class and across the entire school to the gym. But wait, if I show up really early then it looks like I’m eager. But if I show up late then it looks like I could care less. Ah hell, eagerness was better than not caring!

I rushed through the crowd of people trying to leave the building when a hand grabbed my elbow.

“I was just about to find you.” Penner said keeping his hand on my elbow as we walked to the gym.

“I don’t have a lot of time, my brother—.”

“Can surely survive your absence for another minute or two,” He said. “I want to hang out again.” I said flatly.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Yeah I had a great time last night and I want there to be more of those.” He explained.

“You call that a great night? I bet you’ve gone out and done things that no one has even thought of doing in their life.” 

“That’s stuff I can do whenever I want. But the personal one-on-one conversations is hard to come by. Do you want to hang out again?” He asked this time instead of demanding.

“Of course I do. Maybe even ask Morgan and Jai to come?”

“Um—yeah that’s—that’s cool too.” He said looking down.

“I mean we don’t have to.” 

“No it’s whatever as long as I’m with you,” He said. “We’ll discuss more tomorrow?”

“Yes.” I said simply.

“Okay great,” He said a smile coming to his face. He reached out and touched my arm before saying. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bye, Isaac.” And leaving.

I made way to my car breathing out a sigh of relief when I saw Nixon sitting on the hood.

“So you can have secret meetings but I can’t hang out with my friends?”

“Don’t start Nixon.” I said.

“What’s got you all smiley?” He asked as he was putting on his seat belt.

“Nothing,” I said starting the car. “Nothing at all.”


	7. Thursday, Sept. 6th: Some Choose To Shout When They Speak

(Isaac's P.O.V)

“So what do you want to do tonight?” Penner asked coming up to me at lunch.

“Hm?” I mumbled with a piece of pizza hanging from my mouth.

“Isn’t that just attractive.” He laughed leaning in and taking it from my lip before putting it down on my tray.

“Sorry about that.” I apologized.

“It’s okay,” He said taking seat. “So back to my question, what are we doing tonight?”

“Well I have a test over the first four columns of the periodic table tomorrow and I really need to study—.”

“That’s no problem! We can study together I have that same test too.” He said.

“Oh okay I guess that works, I doubt it will be a whole lot of fun though.” I admitted

“Just as long as we get to hang out today.”

“Yeah totally.” I said getting up and throwing away my lunch.

“So where do you want to do this at?” He asked when I returned.

“Do what?” I asked a little jumpy. I could feel my adrenaline kicking the more we talk and things would just start flying out of my mouth. The more he talks to me the more excited I get (not in that way people) and the more he wants to be around me the more jittery I become.

“Are you okay? You seem a little off your usual self?” He asked a little tone of concern on his voice.

“Yeah just tired is all.” I lied.

“Oh okay well I was thinking the diner? It’s pretty quiet there, but it’s not as boring as the library and we could even grab a bite to eat if we get hungry.” He suggested.

“Yeah that sounds great.” I said.

“Okay does 5PM work?” I pondered on that question for a while not knowing if my mom will be home to cook dinner and if Nixon will be willing to look after both Trey and Katherine on top of everything else he has to do.

“Um can I tell you later? After school by the gym?”

“Yeah of course but uh—I just hope you’ll be able to go,” He finishes when the bell rings.

“Bye Isaac. I’m see you after school.” Penner said walking away, turning his head back around to give me one last look.

It felt weird to be this close to someone I’d just met although that seemed to be the trend at this school because Morgan and Jai were just the same way. I haven’t spoken to them since yesterday at lunch and it didn’t feel normal. Well nothing was normal anymore especially when I noticed more stares going in my direction every day and my name popping up in conversations about Penner didn’t make much sense either.

I whipped my phone from my jacket pocket to text my mom.

_To Mom: Are you going to be home for dinner tonight?_

_To Isaac: I should be. Your dad should be home before you get there. Why?_

_To Mom: We can talk about it when I get home._

_To Isaac: Okay see you then._

In Chemistry, the one class I have with Jai and I don’t know if it’s just me but I can actually feel the awkward. I mean we sit by each other and ramble on about completely random things in class and now he just asks little questions like, ‘What page are we on?’ or ‘We had homework last night?’. It was getting a little ridiculous so I decided to be the bigger person and bring up the issue at hand which was figuring out what the deal was between him and Penner.

So in class I casually brought up the subject while we were working on some equations.

“So what’s going on with you and Penner?”

Okay so maybe that wasn’t so casual.

“What?” He asked.

“I mean it just seems like there is some bad blood between you and Penner and I don’t want things to get weird because you’re my best friend and Penner wants to be friends with me and I just—.”

“Isaac can you shut up and breathe for two seconds.” He interrupted and instead of talking I just nodded, looking up at Mrs. Ream to make sure we wouldn’t get caught talking while she was teaching.

“Before Penner became famous he was best friends with Morgan and I, has been ever since third grade when we all first met each other. They say that stardom doesn’t change you, but he was different the minute he left town.” He paused catching up on the notes.

“What do you mean different?” I whispered.

“Like total attitude change. He abandoned his friends back at home for some new celebrity life posse and never looked back on it. Everything about him is a total lie,” He stopped when Mrs. Ream walked behind us, glancing over our shoulders making sure we had the example problems correct.

“It’s all fake.” He finished, ending the conversation and focusing on Chemistry.

In Art class the topic of the day was expressive painting. How ironic for me. I could only focus on what Jai said to me about his relationship with Penner. Something in me wanted to believe everything Jai said, but who was I to believe any of it was actually true? How was I supposed to know if he changed his attitude or not? I didn’t know him before he was famous, so does that mean I shouldn’t even question what Jai said about him? Can this—.

The school bell snapped me from my thoughts and it was time to meet Penner. Why was I so nervous? Oh yeah because Jai planted things into my head that I would’ve never thought about Penner in a million years. He seems so genuine and kind, like there was no flaw or imperfection. I know Jai had honest intentions by telling me those things but in my eyes I didn’t see any reason to believe him.

When I headed to meet at our usual spot I rounded the corner and saw Penner’s back to me. At first I thought he was talking to himself but then I realized he was on the phone. I backed up and hid behind the corner so he couldn’t see me listening in on his conversation.

“Just stop things are different now—it’s not going to happen again—Boone—he’s different. He’s not Tyson I’ve made sure of that—I can look out for myself—.”

Tyson? Wasn’t that the name that Penner called me when we met in the cemetery? And who’s different? Was he talking about me? What’s not going to happen again?

All of those questions flew into my head and when I turned to ask about them I smacked my entire body into Penner and fell hard onto the school floor.

“Jeez Isaac are you okay?” Penner said kneeling down by my side.

“Yeah, I will be—eventually.” I said rubbing the back of my neck.

“Here let me help you up,” He said grabbing onto my waist to pull me up from the ground. “I hope I didn’t ruin the chance of us hanging out now since I just pummeled you to the ground.”

“No, no.”

“Well that’s great.” He said slowly, giving me this weird look.

“Why are you looking at me that?” I questioned.

“You just seem really quiet today is all. You don’t seem like yourself.” I pondered on that statement. Well of course not, how could I act like myself. I could feel myself starting to like Penner more than a friend and it obviously wouldn’t be returned because I mean—look at him.

“I’m just tired.” I lied again, boy was I sure getting good at those. He nodded his head at me before saying, “So have you made up your mind yet?”

“Yeah 5PM works for me.” A bright smile grew on his face.

“That’s great!” He said launching himself at me and hugging me around my neck. By instinct I wrapped my arms around his waist for a split second before he pulled back.

“I’ll meet you there at five then,” he started fixing his book bag strap. “See ya later Isaac.”

“See ya Penner.” I said almost in a whisper.

(Penner’s P.O.V- Seven minutes earlier)

I stood waiting in the same spot I asked Isaac to come to the first time I asked him to meet me. Looking outside at the leaves starting the change color my phone vibrated in my pocket and it was Boone, the guitar player in my band who was like a brother to me.

“Hello?” I spoke.

“So you’ll tell Rico about your new boy toy but you won’t tell me?” He spat into the phone.

“You didn’t ask.” I smiled.

“Well how was I supposed to know that you would meet someone so fast?”

“Yeah well it will never happen, he has girls all over him.”

“You have girls all over you too.” He challenged. He did have a good point, I did have to act like I liked girls even though they repulsed me. Maybe that’s what Isaac was doing too.

“Just stop things are different now.” I reassured.

“Yeah I know they are, but you have to be careful.”

“It’s not going to happen again.”

“How do you know that?”

“Boone—.”

“Don’t ‘Boone’ me," He cut me off. "Do you know how long it took you to recover from what Tyson did?”

“He’s different. He’s not Tyson I’ve made sure of that.”

“How can you be so sure? You can’t just go around and act like the Tyson thing never happened.”

“I can look out for myself—.”

“Can you?” Boone finished. I ended the conversation by hanging up on him and stormed off in the direction I came from to look for Isaac.

(Isaac’s P.O.V- Present)

“You know that dad is going to say no right?” Nixon said as I opened the front door of the house.

“Probably but mom will say yes. I’ll just go to her first.” I spoke throwing my book bag and jacket onto the chair. I poked my head into the kitchen and saw no one was there so I made my way upstairs when I heard toys rattling around. I went into Katherine’s room to see her sitting there all alone which was extremely dangerous. I went up behind her and tapped on her shoulder.

She let out what sounded like a squeal and threw herself onto my leg. I pluck her away so we could talk.

“ **What are you doing up here all by yourself?** ” I asked sitting down on the floor next to her.

“ **Trey and Daddy didn’t want to play.** ” She said.

“ **I know Kitty. But you know you can’t be alone because no one will know where you are.** ”

“ **I missed you.** ” She pointed out.

“ **I know you did. But you had Nixon and Trey right?** ”

“ **I guess. They aren’t you.** ” She said picking up her doll and danced it around the floor. I pondered on that statement she said to me and it was hard for me to understand that she didn’t get along with her other brothers like she did with me.

“ **Come on, let’s go find mommy.** ” I said tapping on her arm to get her attention. I reached for her hand and took her down the stairs. I walked back into the living room and saw Nixon grabbing his shoes and jacket.

“Where are you going?” I asked stopping in my tracks.

“Going out with some friends.”

“And is mom okay with that?”

“Dad said it was, he’s the one taking me there.”

“And where is it exactly you’ll be going?” I questioned.

“Who do you think you are my father?” He said leaving and walking out the door. My dad came out from the kitchen with his keys in his hand.

“Did you hear what he said to me?” I asked in disbelief.

“No I missed it.” He replied slipping on his jacket.

“Well where are you taking him to?” I questioned.

“He said he needed to go to a friend’s house to help him with math. I don’t see the harm in that.” He explained while I huffed underneath my breath.

“Where’s mom at?”

“Folding towels in the laundry room.” I tugged on Katherine’s arm, signaling her to follow me.

“Mom can I go out tonight?” I asked.

“You’ve gone out most nights this week. Don’t you think you should stay home?”

“You guys are the ones saying I need to make friends. Well if I don’t hang out with them I won’t have any left.” I explained. She tried to reach the top shelf to put away larger towels but couldn’t reach so I took them from her and placed them up there myself.

“Thank you dear.”

“So? How about it?”

“Isaac—.”

“I’ll make you a deal. If you let me go out tonight I’ll stay home all weekend and look after Katherine and Trey.” I bargained. She bit on her lip while looking at the ground before saying, “Oh alright.”

“Thank you so much mom. Can I leave Katherine here with you?”

“Sure. **Do you want to help mommy fold?** ” She asked Katherine who just nodded her head and sat in the corner starting to fold the smaller towels.

(TIME PASS)

I arrived right on time to the diner, this time not lying to my mom when I told her I was going to be there. I started to wonder after a couple minutes went by if this was just a trick or a game that he would play on me. I mean to be honest I didn’t know a thing about him so how could I be sure he wasn’t just fooling around?

“Isaac.” A voice whispered in my ear. I literally jump out of my seat but Penner’s hand kept me down.

“Don't do that, it's not funny!” I said shoving his hands off my shoulders

“Well come on, it's a little funny.” He said taking the seat across from me.

“Why do you always do that to me, Penn?”

“Penn?”

“Yes Penn—I mean if that’s alright with you.”

“Of course it is. I even have a nickname for you.” He said.

“You do?” I asked curiously.

“Uh huh.” He hummed, nodding his head and smiling.

“Well are you going to tell me what it is?” I asked impatiently.

“Hmmmmm.”

“Penner!” I dragged out.

“Izzy calm down.” He laughed.

“You have to tell me!” I demanded.

“Okay, Izzy I will.” He paused staring at me.

“Out with it then.”

“Isaac do you really not hear me calling you ‘Izzy’?” He asked in disbelief.

“My family has called me that since I was a baby—oh why did I just tell you that!” I said face-palming myself.

“Well I hope that it’s okay I call you that now?” He asked softly.

“Of course you can.” I smiled. We ordered two coffee’s to keep ourselves awake during this horrible Chemistry study session.

“Do you want to take a break?” I offered.

“Yeah my brain is going to have a meltdown,” He said taking a sip of his coffee. “So what do you want to talk about?” He asked.

“Well I was wondering if you would say a little something about yourself. I mean if that’s too personal or you don’t trust me enough—.”

“No Isaac it’s no problem at all and I trust you fully. Where do I start at,” he said mostly to himself. “Well I love to read. I'm a huge Lee fan, _To Kill a Mockingbird_ is her masterpiece,” he started. “But I also love the Harry Potter series. I think _I love Lucy_ is the greatest American television show ever, but  _Seinfeld_  is the best sitcom of the past 50 years. Steven Spielberg is an amazing director, I can literally watch _Jurassic Park_  over and over again,” he said taking a breath.

“As far as music, it's pretty much across the board. Um, Aerosmith, Queen, Hendrix, Jackson. A little Eminem, and hey, I even liked that one Lady Gaga song.” A smirk came upon my face and I dropped my head trying to hide it. “Don't judge.” He responded.

“I didn't say anything,” I raised my head back up to look at him, I could feel my cheeks were growing warm. “How long have we been here?” I questioned trying to change the subject.

“About—man four hours.” He said checking his black iPhone 5 that was sitting on the table.

“I really need to get home.” I said taking my jacket from beside me and standing up.

“Let me take you home.” He offered, throwing down $20 on the table.

“I have my car parked out front.” I used my thumb to point at the door behind me.

“Oh well, some other time then.” He said as we walked outside to our cars.

“Thanks for helping me study, I’m sure I’ll get an A now all because of you.” I said putting my key in the door, unlocking it.

“Hey, it looks like everyone’s gone.” Penner said randomly looking around at the empty parking lot.

“Yeah, it’s just us,” I said hanging my arms on my car door. Penner stepped in closer and for a minute I thought that he was going to grab my hands. “I’m gonna shower and get some sleep, goodnight Penner.” I said quickly, climbing into my car and driving away.


	8. Friday, Sept. 7th: A New Day Is Coming

(Penner’s P.O.V)                

“Maybe you weren’t clear enough?” Rico said into the phone.

“But I did what you said to do. I made a move to see whether or not he would respond and he ran away like a scared girl! I’ve ruined everything.” I explained to him. Before the meeting with Isaac just hours prior, Rico gave me some advice to figure out if Isaac was gay or not. Because you see, from the moment I laid eyes on Isaac in the graveyard the feeling I got inside of me never went away. And now knowing that I would never have him as my own just made that feeling grow even stronger if that were even possible.

“I think he’s trying to figure out the same thing you are. You know how hard it was for you to even tell me, just imagine how hard it is for him considering that you’re famous and all,” Rico did make a good point I guess.

“And it’s not like I’m doing so well in the dating department either. Maybe you should’ve asked Meena or Zander, I mean they’ve been together how long?”

“See! That’s what I want. I want people to say, ‘Dang they’re still together?’ I mean is it really that much to ask?”

“People did say that when you were still with Tyson for two years.”

“And you know exactly why we’re not together anymore. There’s not even a question whether or not we will get back together.” I snapped at him.

“Penner,” Rico let out a sigh. “You know I didn’t mean it like that. I guess what I’m trying to say is, is that if you can last that long with Tyson, someone you will hate for the rest of your life, just imagine how long you are going to last with Isaac.”

I kept quiet for a moment as my heartbeat quickened at the thought of Isaac and I together. A smile came upon my face.

“Penner you’re still there right?” Rico said into the phone.

“Yeah I’m here.” I spoke slipping out of my thoughts.

“Good because Zander wants to talk to you.”

“Wait hang on, he’s there with you? I thought he went back to Seattle?”

“Yeah well things weren’t going on too well there. His brother got into a physical fight with his dad and he needed to get out of there. I told him he could stay with me and Carmen.”

“Oh okay, well let me talk to him.” I heard rustling on the other end of the phone before an excited Zander shouted into the phone.

“Penner! Did you hear what management is having us do?”

“No, what are you talking about?”

“For one week every month you, me, Rico and Boone have to get together in New York for meetings and stuff. We can even bring siblings and girlfriends and everything! It’ll be just like old times!” He shouted.

“They can’t do this can they? They said four months and that means four months. We’ve been on tour for two years straight! What about my life here? And the life of everyone else?”

“I don’t know man but you’ll get more info when the time comes.”

“That’s just great,” I sighed. “So how are things? I mean, given everything that’s going on.”

“Rico must have told you then am I right?” I didn’t answer.

“Well, I’ve been better. My dad found Rusty behind the garage smoking weed with some friends from school. I mean would you expect a 13 year old to do something like that?” Zander scoffed.

“But it’s not like I have room to talk either, I did the same thing I just didn’t get caught. And then when his friends bolted Russ got pissed and nailed my dad in the jaw. Miranda flipped and went to stay with a friend from med school until everything blows over.” He explained with a little excitement in his voice.

“Man, I’m sorry. I just hope Rebekah doesn’t do something like that, who knows what she will do. Anyway how is Meena?” I questioned.

“She’s great although she’s mad her mom won’t let her come to Seattle to visit because her brother is having a kidney transplant. But I’m going down to New Orleans on Mardi Gras so I hope that will make up for it.”

“Flint is having a kidney transplant? I don’t understand.” I said very confused.

“Well he was born with only one kidney and a match finally came up on the waiting list.”

“That’s such good news!” I exclaimed.

“Have you talked to Boone and the others?” He asked.

“Just from Boone but he talks about everyone enough. He’s skiing in Colorado with Logan before she goes back to college and Dante is being drafted to Qatar after New Year’s. And he said something about Elsie going to Poland with her sister or something like that.” I rambled off.

“Oh yeah I did hear her say she was leaving with Sierra sometime tomorrow. Dude how are you still up isn’t it passed midnight on the East Coast? It’s only nine on Cali time.”

“Crap you’re right I have school in the morning.”

“You out of everyone would be the only one who would actually want to go back to school on break.”

“I’m looking towards the future. You won’t be a musician forever.” I explained.

“That’s true but I’m a musician now and you don’t need to know trigonometry to sing a couple of notes now do you?”

“Alright, alright that’s easy for you to say because you don’t even know how to play a few chords on a bass like me. Anyways tell Rico and Carmen goodnight, I’ll talk to you soon.”

“See ya later Penner!” Zander shouted before I hung up the phone and closed my eyes to fall fast asleep.

(TIME PASS)

“Wake up you lazy sack.” Rebekah said slapping at my legs. I picked my head up from my pillows and checked the clock on my phone. The time read 6:08.

“Ugh, Rebekah! Why did you wake me up so early?” I whined putting my head back down and closing my eyes.

“There is a big storm rolling in and I know how much your hair means to you. So I suggest you get up and head out before all your styling goes to waste.” I groaned loudly and sat up on my elbows before glaring at my sister who smirked and walked away.

I sighed and reached for my glasses that sat on the bedside table. I made my way to my bathroom to take a hot shower before I headed off to school.

“Long day, huh?”

“Rebekah, if you have something to say just say it already.” I said continuing to dry my hair off with a towel

“Mom and dad were asking about you.” She started off with.

“Yeah. And?”

 “Well, they want to know when you’ll be over to visit.”

“Hmmm let me think. Never.” I said walking back into my room.

“You know you can’t avoid them forever.”

“Yes I can. Why do you think I bought my own place in town? It was so I would never have to see or be around them again.” I looked through my shirts, picking out the perfect one for the day.

“Every person from your past lives as a shadow in your mind. Good or bad, they all helped you write the story of your life, and shaped the person you are today.” Rebekah said quietly.

“Look I know you went to college and all, but you can’t use quotes from smart people whenever you feel like it.” She laughed under her breath.

“So are you going to ask Isaac to go to the Barker swim hole tomorrow?” Rebekah asked as I threw my shirt over my head.

“I want to.” I said fixing my hair slightly.

“Then why don’t you?” She questioned leaning on the doorframe with her arms crossed.

“Well I tried to make a move last night when we were alone at the diner and he fled the scene like he committed a crime and the cops were after him.”

“Are you just going to give up that easy then? I wouldn’t expect that from you.” She said as she started walking away.

“What else am I supposed to do?” I asked turning my head in her direction.

“Ask him to go to the swim hole tomorrow,” I bit my lip softly. “And don’t take no as an answer.”

“That’s easy for you to say.”

“Stop making excuses and just do it. I know when you like someone because you talk about them non- stop. It’s obvious so just do it already,” She paused. “You better get going, it’s going to start raining shortly. Can you check and make sure all the windows are closed?”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure.”

“Thanks.”

“See ya Bekah.” I called to her. I took one last glance in the mirror before shutting off the rest of the lights and heading off to school. But not before grabbing a granola bar for breakfast on my way out the door.

(TIME PASS)

Damn granola bar. You’re so good even though you hurt me so bad. This was the one time food let me down in my entire life. I should’ve just left without it, but no I had to satisfy my hunger needs. As soon as I pulled into the school parking lot it was like the flood gates of hell opened up on earth. I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life. If I would’ve just forgotten about it and left I would’ve made it before it rained.

Of course I sat in my car looking like an idiot because I forgot an umbrella and I thought, ‘Hey it’s not going to rain.’ Obviously it did. A knock on my window made me jump slightly. I rolled the window down to none other than Isaac himself, and who I remember to be his younger brother.

“Aren’t you going inside?” He asked with a smile on his face.

“I would miss the whole day before I get my hair wet from the rain.” I laughed slightly.

“Oh you rock stars and your hair.” He said tightening his grip on his umbrella.

“Don’t use it against me now.”

“Nixon! You wanna head to class?” I recognized her, but the last time I saw her she didn’t have highlights in her hair or makeup on her face.

“Oh, hey Penner right? I didn’t see you sitting there.” Hannah said walking over with an umbrella over her head.

“It’s good to see you Hannah. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Well Jai talks about you a lot,” The awkward silence kicked in.

“Well, let’s go Nixon. Don’t wanna be late for math class!” She said with sarcasm in her voice as she pulled the boy buy his elbow.

“C’mon Penn, you can walk with me. I’ll protect you.” He said opening up my door and offering a hand out to me. I quickly grabbed my book bag from the passenger seat and took his hand, being extra careful not to mess my hair up.

“Thanks for this. I really appreciate it.” I said as we walked close together up to the school entrance.

“It’s no problem at all. Your hair is going to survive though right?” Isaac joked.

“Oh Izzy you’re so funny.” He smiled silently to himself.

“That’s a nice car you had.” He said as he held the door open for me to enter.

“Thanks, I got it from a friend of mine in Russia.” I brushed a little water off of my jacket sleeve. I turned around to look at Isaac and his mouth was wide open.

“You’ve been to Russia?”

“Russia, Italy, China. Pretty much everywhere besides North Korea.” I laughed awkwardly at my own terrible joke.

“That’s amazing. You must have so many stories and I want you to tell me about every single one of them.” He said putting his damp umbrella in his locker.

“Well this storm is supposed to blow over late tonight and there is a bunch of us meeting at the swim hole tomorrow. I’ll tell you all of my adventures then.” I said smiling.

“Ahh,” Isaac started. “I wish I could, but I promised my mom that I would stay home all weekend to look after my younger siblings.” A frown came upon his face.

I mentally cursed myself. But then a thought came into my head.

“Maybe I can help with that.” I said as I turned to walk Isaac to his class.

(TIME PASS)

“Today we're going to talk about shadow reckoning. This is a method of measuring heights by the sun's shadow. Let's say for example that we're going to measure the distance of the shadow.”

Oh math, how much pain you cause me. It was already third hour and I was bored with the day already so I whipped out my phone discreetly so Mr. Holt wouldn’t notice.

_To Beks: Can you do me a favor??????_

_From Beks: Depends on what it is._

_To Beks: So I asked Izzy if he would go tomorrow and he said he has to watch his younger siblings._

_From Beks: Izzy? You’re on that level now I see._

_To Beks: Rebekah._

_From Beks: Yeah yeah so what does that have to do with me?_

_To Beks: Well about that…_

_From Beks: You want me to look after them so you can be all smoochy smoochy with Isaac._

_To Beks: Well I wouldn’t go that far but… yes._

_From Beks: And did it ever occur to you that I might just have plans of my own?_

_To Beks: Do you?_

_From Beks: No… but only on one condition will I do it._

“Penner Watson,” Mr. Holt said as my head snapped up from my lap. “Either you are texting or doing something sexual and I will not tolerate either in my class. Now, would you like to inform your peers on how to do shadow reckoning?” I sighed underneath my breath and went up to the board.

“You’re going to take this measure here, measure the length, and multiply that by the height of the source.” I said as I looked directly at Mr. Holt. I have a friend in Russia, the one I got my car from, that teaches me how to be fluent in the Russian language. He is also very smart and is already skilled in shadow reckoning. Thanks Dimitry for letting me show up my math teacher in front of the whole class.

“Well done Mr. Watson, please take your seat. As I continue on, a building height can also be measured, using a clinometer, which we're going to make in class on Monday.” I sat back down in my chair and got my phone back out again and sending a text to my sister.

_To Beks: What do I have to do?_

_From Beks: You have to have dinner with mom and dad._

_To Beks: Rebekah you wouldn’t dare._

_From Beks: It’s up to you. It’s your choice._

(TIME PASS)

When lunchtime rolled around I was excited to tell Isaac I found a replacement so he could hang out with me tomorrow. I noticed as I entered the cafeteria that Jai and Morgan still wouldn’t sit next to Isaac as long as I continued to.

“I see that Morgan and Jai are still not warmed up to me being back.” I said to Isaac who bumped his hip into mine jokingly.

“They will eventually. It must be weird that you’re back after two years.” He finished as we sat down at the table.

“It’s Pizza Friday and they’re serving Mama Jays. You wanna get some?” Isaac asked looking at me.

“Oh yeah. Sure.” I said smiling as we made our way to the line.

“I want to apologize for my disappearing act last night. I realize it was a little strange.” He shot out all at once.

“Honestly it was getting late anyways. Don’t worry about it.”

“Look,” He started again. “I really am sorry that I can’t go hang out tomorrow. It probably meant a lot to you if you wanted me to be there.”

“About this whole thing, I asked Rebekah if she wouldn’t mind looking after them. I really want you to go before the weather gets all nasty and—.”

“Wait hold on a second, Rebekah?” Isaac said interrupting me.

“Rebekah Watson, my sister. She’s a daycare teacher down at Camden Care and she’s really good with children.”

“Rebekah is my sister Katherine’s teacher. It’s such a small world. I can’t believe I didn’t put that piece together yet.” Isaac said almost dumbfounded.

“So is that a yes?” I eagerly asked.

“Penn, that’s such a sweet offer and all, but I can’t ask her to do that.”

“She owes me anyway,” Isaac gave me a look. “Honestly,” I grabbed onto his elbow. “It’s not a big deal. She knows how long I’ve been looking forward to this party and I want you to be there. And I’m not taking no for an answer.” I said crossing my arms over my chest.

Isaac bit his lip slightly before shaking his head and throwing his arms in the air. “Fine.” Isaac said at last.

“You’re going to have so much fun!” A smile came upon my face.

“As long as I’m not forced to drink alcohol.” He said flatly.

“I would never force that upon you.” I said looking into his eyes.

“That’s good to know.”

All Isaac did was smile back at me until we reached the front of the line, hungry for some Mama Jays pizza.

(TIME PASS)

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

I sat Katherine down to help her with her preschool math skills after I got home from school. When I picked Katherine up earlier Rebekah talked to me for a moment. She said that Katherine was lacking in her simple 1’s, 2’s, and 3’s and the basics of counting to ten. But it was harder than I thought because I couldn’t ever keep her attention for more than a couple minutes or so.

When she would get distracted or from my view just stopped caring, she would grab the nearest toy that she could find and act like it was the greatest thing she had ever seen in her life.

I tapped on her arm trying to get her attention back to the numerous amount of shapes I had spread out on the floor. “ **You have to keep paying attention**.” I signed as she looked at me. Instead she got up and ran towards the stairs in attempt to play. She made it to the fourth step before I grabbed her around the waist to bring her back into the living room.

She screeched and whined as she didn’t get what she wanted. I sat her back in the middle of the floor and began to try help her again. She tried to get up again after what seemed like three seconds and gently wrapped my arm around her middle.

She lashed out and kicked her legs and threw her arms around, slapping at my hands that held her in my arms.

“Mom!” I yelled to get her attention. She came dashing into the room with a dish towel in her hand.

“I was wondering what all the racket was.”

“You need to do something with this. I can’t handle it anymore, I’ve tried being nice but enough is enough. I’m done for today.” I said handing over the weeping three year old to my mother.

“Thanks for trying Izzy. I think your dad gets off right about now and since the storm is so bad we’re just going to get take out from the diner.”

“Be sure to take her with you.”

“Now why don’t you just go take a shower and cool off,” She paused. “Before you say something you’re going to end up regretting.”

“It’s not like she can hear it anyway.” I mumbled.

“Isaac enough. I’ll take Trey with us and could you please set the table for when we get back?” She asked.

“Isn’t Nixon going to do any chores?” I pointed out.

“I have him on trash duty. Don’t fight while we’re out please.”

“I know.”

“You know where everything is if the power goes out right? The first aid, candles, and the emergency food—.”

“Mom. It’s raining. It’s not the end of the world.” I heard the familiar sound of the garage door opening, signaling that my dad had arrived home from work.

“You are really sassy today you know that,” I smirked. “We won’t be gone long—I hope. Be back soon.” She said as she went to help get Katherine in her rain coat.

(Hannah’s P.O.V)

As my father and I stood waiting for a table I noticed, just like always, complete strangers coming up to my dad. Telling him new and different ways to help improve the way things in Camden, Maine are being done.

I mean it would seem weird to other people if that would happen to you but my father was the mayor of this town. Tiring at sometimes, but it’s not like I was listening to what anyone had to say anyway.

“Hey, you're not going out in that, are you?” My dad blurted out to a family of four. A small little girl around Miles’s age and an older boy, maybe around ten years old were at the side of that I assumed to be mother and father. “The roads are dangerous. Route 3 is completely flooded.” My father warned.

“We'll make do.” The woman said, shifting the little girl in her arms.

“Mayor Barker, we have your table ready.” Carly, a friend of Jai’s, said from behind.

“Great.” I sighed.

“Mayor Barker, is it? I suppose it is treacherous outside. My name is David Baldwin.” The man exchanged hands with my father. Baldwin? As in Nixon and Isaac Baldwin? There’s no way.

“Yes hello, I heard our new lawyer arrived this week. It’s a pleasure for you to join us.” My dad said with a smile on his face. I noticed that Carly walked back to the podium by the front door to seat other people.

“This is my son Trey, daughter Katherine and wife Marsha,” He said pointing to each person as he called out their name. “My family and I just recently moved to town.”

“Welcome, I’m Jackson Barker. This is my daughter, Hannah. Please—please, join us.” My dad offered eagerly.

“It would be a pleasure.” Mrs. Baldwin said glancing towards her husband. My father led the way to our table of two—well now six.

“Be more creepy, dad. It’s not like your child is standing right here.” I mumbled to him.

“Grow up, you know elections are coming. He's a constituent and a rich one from the looks of it.”

“Awesome. I'm gonna go shoot some pool.” I said avoiding the entire evening altogether and making my way over to the pool table where Grayson was soon to join.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys even like this???


	9. Saturday, Sept. 8th: Learn From My Mistakes

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

It was still raining. Not as hard or forceful has it had yesterday, but it just kept on coming down. I had to pick Trey and Katherine up from the diner around 8 PM last night because my parents were eating with the Mayor… although that was strange because they didn’t go out and mingle with other families often. Nixon and I never got our food that night so I made a frozen pizza for the both of us.

I still didn’t tell my parents that I hanging out with Penner in the afternoon. I didn’t tell them that I wasn’t going to be looking after Katherine and Trey. I didn’t tell them anything. And I didn’t plan on it either. It wasn’t any of their business was it?

My mom and dad were leaving for Boston all next week. Something about how my dad was getting a follow up on being a lawyer or some crap like that. I’m in charge of watching them all week and believe it or not it doesn’t sound as fun as it seems.

Last night Nixon came into the living room as I was watching a re-run of Seinfeld.

(FLASHBACK)

“Isaac?” I jumped slightly when his voice came out of the silence suddenly.

“What?”

“Do you have a minute to talk?” He asked timidly.

“Yeah.” He came and sat down next to me on the couch.

“I made it through a week of school. I didn’t get bullied or get called names, I didn’t even get book checked in the hallways. I did make a stupid choice to get drunk at a party I wasn’t supposed to be at. It was all because of the friends I’ve made. They brought me out of my shell and now I feel like I’m actually wanted,” He sighed. “I feel like I belong.”

“I’m really happy for you.” I said honestly.

“My point about all of this is—is that no matter how much you hate it here—I’m not going to give up my happiness because of you. I won’t do it,” He paused. “And I hope that you can suck it up and let me have this one thing just this one time in my life.”

Hearing those words come out of Nixon’s mouth sucked. I didn’t know that he had been so miserable before moving. I mean I knew he had troubles at school with bullies and making friends, but I didn’t realize how far it went to.

“I want you to know something,” I started. “I dreaded coming here. When we first got here I had a closed mind about the whole thing. But when I made friends of my own—,” Jai and Morgan came to mind. Especially Penner. He was on my mind usually every minute of every day. “I have no reason to want to leave. And I wouldn’t do that to you and I hope you know that.”

(END FLASHBACK)

I knew when my parents got home because the headlights from their car shined through my bedroom window. I was still up after putting Trey to bed. He was telling me stories about all the things he was learning in school. He was bragging about how he found a bird’s nest behind the slide on the playground and how he was making sure no one else would bother it. I was laying my bed with my headphones in listening to Talk by Coldplay.

 _You can take a picture of something you see_  
In the future where will I be?  
You can climb a ladder up to the sun  
Or write a song nobody has sung  
Or do something that's never been done

I found myself singing along because I could relate the most to it. I mean, obviously I couldn’t climb a ladder to the sun, but I feel like I’m going to be stuck repeating the same things every day for the rest of my life. Making sure that this family doesn’t fall apart at the core of it all.

(Jai’s P.O.V)

“Morgan. Morgan!” I shouted from outside the Moseley household. I kept knocking on the door hoping someone would answer. I took my phone out and dialed Morgan’s number. It went straight to voice mail.

“Hey,” I started off the message. “I thought you said you were at home. I’m doing this party thing at the swimming hole and I want us to spend the day together. Where are you? Call me.” I pressed the end button on my phone and headed home.

(TIME PASS)

When I got inside my house I passed the door of the study and glanced inside to see my mom, Kelsey, sitting at the desk working on some kind of project.

“What are you doing Mom?” I asked.

“Getting the list together of the artefacts for next Saturday’s historical society party.” She said without looking up from the desk.

“Well,” I started. “Speaking of historical, have you ever been down to those old ruins in the woods?” I asked casually.

“The old Barker estate?” She questioned now looking at me. I nodded.

“Yeah. What do you know about it?”

“It was the original plantation house. Beautiful antebellum architecture and if it hadn’t burn to the ground we’d probably be living in it.” She explained. That didn’t really answer my question at all.

“What’s the deal with the freaky underground cellar?” I said sitting in the chair in front of the desk.

“We don’t talk about those kind of rooms, honey.” She put her pen down on the table.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Well, even though this is the North no one likes to reminisce about the old slave days,” She began. “Even though deceased civilians of this town did help rescue several of those people it brings back terrible memories of the Civil War.”

“Civil War? What you guys are talking about?” My dad asked as he walked into the study, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“We were just talking about the old Barker property. I’m taking some friends over to the swim hole.” I explained standing up to get my dad’s hand off of my shoulder.

“Like who?” He asked setting down his jacket on the arm rest of the chair.

“Morgan, Lucas, Penner, Maddie. Just some friends from school. It’s not going to get out of hand.” I promised.

“Penner is back? How have you two been getting along?” My mom questioned.

“Just wonderful mom.” I said sarcastically.

“Well, be careful. If anything happens on the property the family is liable.”

“Of course.” I left the study and headed up to my room to change into my swimming trucks.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

“So what are you guys going to be doing today?” I asked my dad as he was making his coffee.

“Mayor Barker asked us if we wanted to go on his boat with him and his wife and I said why not.” He said nonchalantly.

“Wait did you say Barker? As in Jai?” I asked becoming more interested in the topic.

“I believe he did say something about having a son named Jai. Why do you know him?”

“Umm yeah I see him around school.” I gave him the short version of our relationship because to be honest my dad didn’t really care.

“Well we are probably going to be gone most of the day, but should be back for dinner. I trust you will have everything under control?” He questioned as my mom walked into the kitchen with a sun hat on her head.

“Oh yeah of course. I was even thinking of taking them down to see some of the seagulls off of the pier. Maybe even let Katherine look for some shells in the sand or something.” I lied. I was starting to get really good at lying, I wasn’t even showing a flicker of dishonesty anymore.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea darling.” My mom started in as she was putting together a bag of supplies she needed for their trip.

I still couldn’t believe they were becoming friends with Jai’s parents. I couldn’t even begin to understand that Jai’s dad was the mayor, don’t you think that was something that needed to be mentioned? What if I insulted him right out in the open and he had me beheaded or attacked by wolves?

“I don’t want any of your friends over from school. You know how Katherine gets around strangers she can’t communicate with. I left money in the drawer for food and emergencies. Please be careful.”

“The same thing can be said for you as well.” I pointed out.

“Nixon is with Katherine outside on the patio and Trey is watching cartoons,” She said putting her sunglasses on. “I really appreciate this. We’ll be back later.” She finished, following my dad out the door with the cooler in his hand. I continued to watch them through the window in the living room to make sure they left before I made the plan go into action.

“What’s up little brother?” I said rhetorically when I walked passed Trey who was laying on his stomach watching a Transformers cartoon. I walked around the island in the middle of the kitchen to the patio door.

“Hey can you watch them for like ten minutes? I gotta go pick up someone.” I asked my brother.

“If mom said I can’t have people over either can you.” He said putting the green piece of chalk back into the box.

“Do you know Katherine’s daycare teacher?” He nodded standing up. “Well there is this thing I have to go to with a friend of mine and I can’t take her or any of you with me. So she’s coming over to look after you all for the whole day. As a favor for me.”

“And what if I tell mom and dad that you lied again and did something you weren’t supposed to? They will probably get so mad that they might make us move back to Nebraska. You wouldn’t want my happiness to shatter would you?” I closed the door that way Trey couldn’t hear us.

“Listen, Nixon. I realize how important your happiness is and I wouldn’t want to diminish that in anyway, but you’re not going to blackmail me with it,” My brother stared at me with hard eyes. “So either you can watch them for a few minutes or I might just have to tell mom and dad about what happened at Damon’s party,” I paused. “Are you getting what I’m saying?” I asked. I didn’t realize how close I got to my brother until we were nearly face to face.

“Yeah. I get it.” He said clipping my shoulder as he took Katherine inside the house. Obviously that didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to—I didn’t want to resort to threatening him, but that happens when I didn’t get what I want and that’s a flaw of mine.

Yesterday afternoon when I picked Katherine up that’s when I confirmed everything with Rebekah. She was on board with the whole plan. I went to pick her up from the daycare when it almost 10AM, leaving Nixon to be in charge at the house.

“Rebekah I can’t tell you how much this means to me. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you.”

“I owed Penner and Katherine is really sweet. It’s not that big of a deal, but don’t tell Penner I told you this—he doesn’t ever shut up about you. I’m honestly starting to think he’s obsessed with you.”

“Umm—.” I raised my eyebrow with a smile on my face. If he was becoming infatuated with me just like I was with him this was going to be one of the greatest moments in my life.

“He’s not a psycho. He just cares a lot about you.” She finished as I pulled my car into the driveway. I almost got caught by my dad on my way to pick up Rebekah. He was filing up his car with gas at the nearest gas station and just as I drove by he looked away from the road.

Trey was still in the same position I left him in and Katherine was busy playing with the magnets on the refrigerator.

“I’ll go find Nixon.” I said to Rebekah as she made her way over to Katherine. I watched her tap on her shoulder and Katherine squealed when she saw her face, jumping up to give Rebekah a huge hug.

I found Nixon in his room playing on his Gameboy.

“Umm hello.” I blurted out.

He looked up at me and said, “’Sup.” Before looking back down at his gaming device.

“Are you having some kind of brain damage? Or did you forget to look after your sister?”

“She’s sitting right there, I gave her a Lego to play with.” He said pointing over to the empty corner of his room with the abandoned Lego.

“She seems like she’s having an amazing time,” He picked his head up and realized she wasn’t there.

“Rebekah is downstairs with Katherine and don’t fight with her. I will be back before mom and dad get home and if you tell them where I went I’m going to tell them what happened at Damon’s that night.”

“Why do you have to keep bringing that up?” He asked.

“Because it’s my leverage.” I finished. I made my way back down the stairs and into the living room where Rebekah was doing something girly with Katherine’s hair.

“I’m going to head out Rebekah. I honestly can’t tell you how much I owe you for this.”

“Just go and have fun—but be back before 4PM.” She warned.

(TIME PASS)

When I got to the swim hole I was told to meet Penner by the lake. He never really specified what side of the lake to meet on. But I assumed the side with people on it—people who were swinging from ropes and diving into the lake. And then some people who were drinking out of a keg from the bed of a truck.

That was the worst part about parties. The alcohol. If I relapsed I would never forgive myself. Then again growing up I never thought I would have to fight within myself to resist it. No one ever grows up thinking that they will be addict to a drug until it actually happens to you. That’s the scary part of it all. You don’t ever think it’s going to be you.

From behind me someone squeezed on both sides of my t-shirt covered waist making me jump. “Hi.” Penner said with a smile on his face

“Hey. You’re always sneaking up on me.” I said taking a deep breath. He just continued to smile at me.

“You guys know that you’re the only ones with shirts on?” Carly said as she walked passed us to meet up with Jai and Lucas, who is on the baseball team. Penner and I exchanged awkward looks to each other.

“Did we just get scolded five minutes into a party?” Penner said breaking the silence.

“And judged.” I chimed in.

“It usually takes me an hour for it to get that severe.” He joked.

“Yeah?”

“Wow.”

“I'm sorry, but I guess you're going to have to take that off.” I commented. I really wanted to see him with his shirt off—I just kept thinking about how good his body probably looks and how much sculpted, tan muscle—. STOP! If I get hard right in front of him he will never think of me the same way again. Think of something sad—like drowning bunnies—drowning bunnies are sad.

“I think you have to go first.” He said, snapping me out my thoughts. 

“Okay,” I said reaching to take my shirt off my body. As I was pulling it off my face it got caught on my chin and then on my nose. When I couldn’t get it all the way off I felt Penner helping me. “Ok, um—sorry, so not sexy.” I said finally getting my shirt all the way off. I noticed he was eyeing my body up and down which caused my face to turn a slight red.

“I disagree.” He commented, taking his shirt off in one swift motion. I was right, he did have a toned stomach—and it was indeed prefect.

I felt like I was fangirling over him, every little thing he did just caused me to become even more obsessed with him. As Rebekah said early it doesn’t mean you’re psycho, it just means you care a lot about them. And boy did I care a lot about Penner.

“Well now that we have officially blended in you wanna go for a walk down the river?” Penner asked me.

“Yeah, I would like that.” I said as we headed off down the shoreline of the lake.

(Jai’s P.O.V)

I was standing at the end of the truck pouring myself a glass from the keg when Lucas came up to stand next to me.

“Is it me or did Maddie Conrad’s ass get hot?” He asked. Lucas liked Maddie since last year when she got contacts and her braces removed. He’s been noticing her more and more now that he says ‘dayummm she’s fine’ all the time—just not in public.

“All class.” I commented. He’s been a friend of mine since the 8th grade—not the smartest of the group, but he was a funny one to have around.

“Where is Moseley?”

“I wish I knew.” I said taking a drink

“You guys are on the outs already?” He asked pouring himself a cup.

“No we’re fine, I’m fine. I’m just not sure where she is.” I said trying to stop it from making it seem like something it wasn’t

“What’s your dad doing here?” Carly said from the truck, pointing up to the gravel road where my dad was sitting in his car. I put down my cup slowly hoping that my dad wouldn’t get angry.

“This looks like more than a few friends from school.” Was the first thing he said when I met him at his car.

“Are you busting us or you joining us?” I joked.

“Neither,” My dad started. “I was hoping you can make sure everyone is out of here by dark.”

“What happens after dark?” I asked.

“Someone ends up wasted and dead at the bottom of the lake. You heard your mom the family is liable if anything happens.”

“Don’t be a party killer.”

“Hey, I didn’t say you had to stop partying, I just said you had to take it elsewhere.”

“Alright, we’ll be out of here,” I agreed as he drove away. I headed back down to the truck where all of my friends were gathered.

“Hey Carly.” I called to her, signaling I wanted another refill on my drink.

“So, there’s a full moon tonight.” She pointed out handing me a cup.

“We’re gonna light a fire later and tells ghost stories.” Maddie said as Lucas was giving her a piggy back ride around the grounds.

“Uh, I don’t know.” I said, remembering that my dad wanted my friends out by dark.

“Jai.” Morgan said coming down from the road.

“What the hell? I’ve been calling you.” I said throwing my cup on the ground meeting up with her on the hill.

“I know, I had to help my mom out at the diner before she would let me come, but I’m here now.” She explained.

“Hi Morgan.” Maddie said as I brought Morgan down to the truck.

“Go find somebody single to stalk.” Morgan spitted out pouring herself a glass.

“Seriously?”

“She was flirting with you.”

“She’s harmless, you don’t have to be rude.” I said defending Maddie.

“You’re mad?” She pouted.

“You’ve been dodging my calls all day and you get to show up here and be the jealous girlfriend? It’s kind of lame.” I finished going over to the water with Carly, leaving Morgan alone by the truck.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

On our walk our arms would occasionally brush up against one another’s and the more I thought about it the more I realized that I want him to be my boyfriend. I still have in the back of my mind what Tyson did to me and I have Boone’s voice telling me to be careful, but I trust Isaac. I really do.

Around 1PM Jai asked Isaac to help him replace the empty keg of beer with a full one. It was now 1:37PM when he joined me on a rock that was overlooking the lake.

“Jai finally freed you, huh?” I asked as he sat down next to me.

“How come you always can sneak up on me, but I can’t go it to you?”

“It’s a gift.” We laughed slightly.

“Uh, I don't know where he went. He abandoned me.” He pouted.

“Well I’m still here.” I pointed out. He smiled and shifted closer to me, our shoulders barely touching.

“You know I realized earlier, I had no idea that your family was from England.”

“Really? Last name Watson didn't do it for you?”

“Right. Duh. Are there any other Watsons in Camden?” It was strange he kept asking about my family, but I want to know about his as well.

“My sister Rebekah.”

“Where did everyone else go?” I raised an eyebrow. “Like what happened to your parents?”

“Kinda just spread out. I don’t talk to my parents anymore.” I said looking down at the blades of grass I was picking at.

“Oh.” He breathed out.

“Why?” I questioned

“I'm just trying to learn more about you.” Isaac said with a smile on his face.

“This looks like the spot.” A familiar voice said from inside the woods

“For what?” A female voice echoed.

“Did you hear that?” Isaac asked me. I stood up first offering a hand to Isaac which he took softly. We made our way into the woods with Isaac hiding behind me slightly as we came upon Jai and Morgan making out against a tree. I cleared my throat as Isaac stepped out from behind me.

“Ah, damn.” Jai mumbled.

“What happened?” Morgan asked looking back at us.

“Oh no, by all means carry on. We’re just passing through.” I joked grabbing Isaac’s wrist, taking him away from the soon to be graphic scene.

(Lucas’s P.O.V)

“Not much farther, Maddie.” I said, taking her by the hand farther into the woods. I thought the cellar was this way, but even if it wasn’t I didn’t need a building to get done what I wanted to get done.

“Really Luke? You dragged me all the way out here?” She complained.

“I want to show you something.”

“Where are we going?” She kept asking.

“It’s right around this tree.”

“Are you sure?”

“Oh yeah, come on.” I said taking her down into the cellar.

“What is this place?” Maddie said looking around at the carvings on the walls.

“It’s a ruin buried underneath Jai’s family’s old estate. We used to come play here all the time. No one will know we’re down here.”

“Is everyone else coming?” She asked.

“Yeah, unless you rather I tell them not to.” I stepped closer to her.

“You’re single, right?” She questioned.

“Oh yeah.”

“Let’s go,” I took her father into the cellar. “Wait, wait. No, I’m sorry.” She stopped suddenly

“What’s the deal? Come on.” I said trying to get her to come with me.

“No, no, no. Wait, wait, wait, I can’t. I’m not into it.” She said fighting against me.

“Then why did you come with me?” I said letting go of her and taking a step back.

“I don’t know but I’m not even sure why I was flirting with you. I like Jai.” She spit out.

“Ouch. Um—okay.” I was starting to get pissed. Everyone wanted Jai. Not Lucas.

“I‘m gonna go.” She said backing away slowly.

“Yeah.” I gave her a one word response.

“Sorry.” She finished before leaving the ruin.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

I seemed to be losing track of Isaac more often then I actually spent talking to him. He was either in the water with some of the people from school or just off on his own, but now I had no clue where he went. It’s was only 3:52PM he still had to be here.

I noticed Morgan and Jai working on their tans and went up to ask them if they saw Isaac anywhere.

“Ugh, it's just so much drama. Ever notice how the druggies are the biggest attention whores?” I don’t even want to think about the conversation they were having before I walked up.

“Yeah.”

“Excuse me. Hi.” I butted it.

“Hi.” Jai said, taking off his sunglasses to look up at me.

“Um, have you guys seen Isaac?” I simply asked.

“I think he went home.” Oh yeah he had to beat his mom and dad home. I was just surprised that he didn’t tell me he was leaving. He did go through all of this lying just so he could be with me. And that thought did bring a smile upon my face.

“Oh, yeah I think he did say something about that. Thanks for letting me know.” I finished starting to walk away.

“Penner wait!” Jai called after me. “I'm gonna give you Isaac's number because he is big on texting.” Morgan took a pen out from her bag and Jai wrote down numbers onto the back of my hand. I stared down at it longer than I needed to.

“Thank you.” I said leaving Jai’s party and heading home to talk to Rebekah about Isaac.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

“I thought you were ignoring me.” Rebekah said as soon as I walked through the door.

 “Sorry my phone’s dead.”

“Nixon isn’t here.” She spit out.

“What do you mean he isn’t here? Did you check every room?” I said looking in the nearest areas.

“He went out in the woods and didn't come back I can't get him on his phone. It's going straight to voice-mail, I don’t know where he could be.” She panicked.

“You're not going to like what I'm thinking.” I bit on my lip as I retraced my steps to the door.

“You can’t just leave them here," She followed after me. "You’re parents are going to be home in an hour—.”

“What do you suggest I do?” I asked stopping in my tracks. This wasn’t like Nixon to just run off on his own and not tell anyone where he was going.

“What are you planning on doing?” Rebekah asked softly.

“How long has he been missing?” I questioned.

“Maybe 10 minutes before you got home. But that’s only when I noticed he was gone so he might have left earlier than that.”

“Nixon's smart, but he doesn’t know the town well enough to find his way around. So he would only go to a place that he is familiar with, like the school.”

“What about a friend’s house? Has he been acting weird lately, like different than normal?”

“Why do you ask?” My thoughts went back to Damon’s party, the night I caught Nixon drunk in the forest.

“Well isn’t it obvious,” She began. “You’re saying that he started lashing out and doing things he wouldn’t normally do. It sounds to me like his new friends are having a bad influence on him.” I thought about what she said for a while, but I never wanted to believe that it could actually be true. That in less than a week my brother changed personalities in an instant.

“Can I leave you here with—where did Trey go? Trey?” I asked, heading upstairs into Trey’s room. I found him sitting on the floor with his Hot Wheels cars, jumping them up and over random objects on the ground.

“Hey buddy,” I spoke to him, but I got no reply. “Don’t run off like that okay? No one would’ve know where you went.”

“Why do you have to get so mad at Nikky?” He asked without looking up at me. It was hard coming up with an explanation to why Nixon was acting this way, but how do you tell an eight year old what alcohol is?

“What do you mean?”

“Nikky is kind, but you treat him like he is a meany. You were a meany to Kitty. Are you going to be a meany to me too?”

“No, no of course not,” I pulled him into a hug and took him to sit on his bed. “Trey, do you remember the story you told me about the bird’s nest you found underneath the slide at school?” I asked.

“Yes! No one has messed with it because I am protecting it.” He said proudly.

“Well Nixon is like the birds nest and I’m like you—in a way. I’m trying to keep people from hurting him. Do you see what I’m getting at here?”

“You’re just trying to keep him safe so Nikky doesn’t get killed like the birds.”

“Yes, exactly,” I stood up and grabbed Trey’s hand to take him back downstairs. “C’mon now.” When we ducked out of his room and down the hallway my phone in my pocket buzzed.

_From: 983-556-0412_

_I know where your brother is._

I let go of Trey’s hand and quickly ran down the stairs to find Rebekah who was with Katherine, helping her get her shoes on.

“Rebekah help!” I unnecessarily shouted.

“Calm down, calm down what’s the matter?” I shoved the phone in her face.

“I don’t know who this is and then they send that they know where Nixon is and it seems weird that this person would know who Nixon is because I haven’t made many friends here and I haven’t introduced any of them to my family—.”

“Alright, calm down before you get your pants in a bunch. Just take a breath,” I gulped and took in a deep breath. “Are you okay now?”

“I’m fine.”

“Well you’ll be glad to know that I know this number,” She paused. “It’s my brothers.” I stared at her in disbelief. I was holding in my hand the phone number of Penner Watson.

“Should I reply?” I asked stupidly. All she did was give me a ‘duh’ look.

_To Penner:_

_Next time could you try and be a little less creepy ;)_

_From Penner:_

_I’m really sorry about that! I just wanted to help…_

_To Penner:_

_It’s not a big deal although I thought you were some kidnapper trying to get money from me. You still know where he is right?_

And that’s when the texts stopped. Just when I needed the information the most he doesn’t reply, not until I have an incoming call from none other than Penner himself. I quickly answered.

“Hello?”

“Hey Izzy.” Penner said softly into the phone, his voice sounding a bit muffled. “I have Nixon at the diner.”

“I can’t thank you enough honestly you are so amazing,” I paused. Amazing? What was I getting at here, I can’t have him knowing I like him. “I’ll be there to get him in 72 seconds.”

“What?” He asked.

“Oh never mind.” I hung up on him without saying goodbye or anything. “Let’s go Rebekah, is Kitty ready?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll get Trey together and we’ll go. I might need your help again.”

(Nixon’s P.O.V- 33 minutes ago)

I craved for it. After I had just a taste of it at Damon’s party I needed more and I couldn’t wait any longer for it. And I’m not talking about alcohol either. I’m talking about marijuana. Weed, pot, reefer, sticky icky or whatever you want to call it. I was hooked and was on a high I never wanted to come down from.

I was having slight withdrawals, the kind where you could live with it constantly being there but the little voice in the back of your head saying that it needed it.

The only problem was I didn’t have a dealer or anything. I was brand new to the whole world of drugs, even Isaac had no clue what was going on. But I knew someone who would have just what I wanted.

That’s why I’m here. In the ‘Stoner Pit’ in the alley between the diner and a local clothing store. I was looking for Grayson Moseley.

“Don't take more than two in a six-hour window.” I heard the familiar voice as I turned my head to the right. There was Grayson, making a deal with what I assumed to be a senior, or maybe a freshman in college. Why would anyone trust someone younger than them to give them good drugs?

“Hey, Nixon. I knew I'd find you here with the pot heads.” Hannah said on my left.

“Hey, I didn’t expect to see you here. Isn’t it a little too dirty for you?”

“There is a little more garbage smell then I would like, but no one is going to catch us back here.”

“Hey, Pete Wentz called he wants his nail polish back.” Grayson said grabbing my hand to look at my black painted finger nails.

“Pete Wentz, huh? How old school T.R.L. of you, are you a Carson Daly fan?” I snapped at him. I definitely was on edge where I considered fighting Grayson as he lunged at me.

“Oh Gray, be nice,” Hannah said holding him back by the arm. “He’s not here to bust us.”

“It’s ten bucks a pop.” And at that moment everything became surreal. The need became too strong and I wasn’t thinking clearly, this is wrong, so wrong.

“Umm—well I don’t.” I stumbled.

“You’ve never bought drugs before have you?” Grayson questioned.

“No I haven’t—I really don’t know why I’m here anymore. This isn’t me.” I said backing away.

“Hey what’s going on down there?” A voice shouted from down the alley. Grayson turned his back to see who it was, his eyes grew big as he grabbed Hannah’s hand and ran the opposite direction towards the ocean. I was frozen but I decided to run anyway when I saw the person walking to me.

“Hold up Nixon.” I stopped in an instant as soon as I heard my name.

“Who are you, how do you know my name?” I tried to recognize the face but it was too dark to see. Not until the face stepped into the light did I know who it was.

“What are you doing hanging out in the Stoner Pit?” Penner asked me.

“I could ask you the same question.”

“I was supposed to meet my stoner lab partner here. But that doesn’t explain why you are here.” He pressed. I couldn’t tell him because if I did he would go straight to Isaac and I was in enough trouble as it is running away and all.

“You were doing drugs weren’t you?”

“No I wasn’t.”

“I need to call Isaac.”

“No Penner please don’t,” I said almost breaking down into a sob. “I’m already in deep shit please don’t—.”

“What do you mean, what else happened?” He asked placing a hand on my shoulder.

“I was craving it and—and I couldn’t wait anymore. I couldn’t get rid of the need and I—I had to do something about it—.”

“Hold on a minute just tell me what’s going on.” Penner said, stopping me in my tracks.

“I ran away,” I confessed looking down at the ground. “Rebekah didn’t know I left and now I would assume that they are out looking for me.”

“You know what I have to do now right?” I looked up at him with my eyes and nodded my head before I slid down the side of the brick wall and curled my knees to my chest.

(Isaac’s P.O.V- Present)

In less than five minutes Rebekah and I, including the rest of my siblings pulled into the back of the diner. I saw Penner sitting on an old wooden table looking out into the ocean.

“You want to hear the bad news or the really bad news?” Penner spoke as I walked up beside him.

“Actually, I don’t want any news Penn,” I snapped at him. He turned his head slowly, making eye contact with me. “Sorry I’m just really jittery right now.”

“Why don’t you just come sit down for a minute and relax.” Penner said, gesturing me with his hands. I sighed and accepted his offer, sitting down next to him on the table. He wrapped and arm around my shoulders pulling me in closer to him.

“You are really tense,” He spoke massaging my shoulder. “I know things are not the best right now, but just know that I’ll be here if you need someone to talk to or—.”

“You see Penner that’s just it. You say that you’re going to be here but you already told me that you were only here for four months. And if things keep going bad at the rate they seem to be going I’m—.” I paused, not wanting to make a confession I’d been keeping inside.

“You what?” I turned my head the other way that way he couldn’t see my face. “Izzy look at me, what were you going to say?” Penner pressed on trying to get me to admit what it was I was keeping inside.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m weak so can we just let it go. I shouldn’t have said that to you because I know that you don’t deserve that, you weren’t doing anything wrong you were just being an amazing friend—.” There I go with the ‘amazing’ again.

“You are a strong person and it’s okay if you need help. No one can do everything alone—people just have to trust that someone is going to be there for them.”

“Okay well if you really want to know,” I began. “If things keep getting worse I’m going to need you here because you seem to be the only one who understands at the moment. I don’t want to seem dependent on you, but I feel like I have a connection with you.” A bright smile came on his face with maybe a slight blush to add to that.

“I feel like I have a connection with you too.”

“Umm sorry to break up this love fest, but there was a reason that we are here am I right? No to mention the short time frame we are currently under.” Rebekah blurted out, breaking up the moment between Penner and me.

“Right,” I said clearing my throat and standing up away from Penner. “Where is Nixon now?” I asked.

“He’s down the alley there.” Penner said pointing to the entrance of the alley. I gave one last look to Penner before going down the alley to meet the one thing I dreaded all day. And there he sat, curled up against the diner wall with his head buried in his knees.

But before I knew how to confront the situation at hand, everything just started pouring out of me without any sign of stopping.

“Do you know what I was doing today, Nixon?” I blurted out, the fear on my brother’s face was noticeably obvious when he noticed I was there.

“I was having fun, I was trying to forget about all the crap that I have to deal with every day. I was just enjoying a day with my friends. And then, there you are stoned in some alleyway,” I saw Nixon pick his head up to argue with me, but I head out a finger at him, signaling that I wasn’t finished talking yet.

“I know you’re a kid being my younger brother and all but, if you can’t be responsible for anyone you’re at least supposed to be responsible for yourself.”

(TIME PASS)

With the worst part over and done I tried to make the night liven up. I asked Penner to come over for a while to make the Nixon hatred die down a little bit. But when I got home Mom and Dad were already there and my heartbeat began to quicken.

When I pulled my car into the driveway Nixon was the first one out of the car and inside the house. I looked over at Penner who gave me a sympathetic smile when I was unbuckling Katherine and Trey who both ran in behind Nixon.

“Everything’s gunna be okay.” Penner said in my ear as we began walking through the door.

“Hey mom!” I called out.

“In here Izzy,” A blush came to my face when a chuckle came from Penner’s mouth. I gently elbowed him in the ribs as he followed me in the kitchen.

“How was your day— oh, who might this be?” She said taking a notice of Penner standing beside me.

“I’m sorry to barge in on you ma’am.”

“Is this your ‘Jai Barker’ friend I’ve been wanting to meet? I had such a nice time with your parents today—.”

“Mom stop,” I interrupted her. I realized that Penner backed a little up behind me as my mother talked so I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back into the room. “This is Penner Watson.” I told her, looking at his perfect face as I talked.

“As in Rebekah Watson? Kitty’s teacher?”

“That’s right ma’am.” Penner replied.

“You better be sure to keep my baby happy, but I can already see on his face that you do that well enough already.” My eyes grew wild with each word that came out of her mouth. Not only was my face beat red, but as well as Penner’s who awkwardly looked at the pictures on our refrigerator. Now it’s out there and I can’t lie to him anymore. Penner now knows that I’m gay.

“Mom,” I cleared my throat. “I’m not dating every guy I bring home.” I gave her one of those ‘if you do not shut up right now you are going to ruin my life’ looks hoping that she would get the hint.

“Oh Izzy, you know I was just joking. Anyway what did you do today, anything exciting?” She asked.

“Umm well—I took them to see the ocean—yeah I did,” I stuttered. “And I saw Penner there and asked if he wanted to come watch some movies in my room later. I hope that’s okay right mom?” She nodded. “Where is dad at?”

“He went to check on Nixon, he seemed really upset.”

“Yeah he didn’t find any shells because there was a lot of people there.” I lied. “Dad is with Katherine then?”

“Yeah she wanted to tell him about the day she had. Although I doubt he’ll understand what she is saying, you know how she gets when she is excited.” I smiled at her.

“Well we’ll be in my room.”

“No funny business Isaac Daniel.”

“Of course not mother!” I called to her from the front door.

“Your mom is uh—well interesting to say the least.”

“You didn’t have to keep saying ‘ma’am’ at her,” We both laughed. “She’ll think you’re some goody- good school boy.”

“I am far from that!”

“Don’t I know it.” I said as we made it to the door of my room.

“Isaac?”

“What?” I asked looking over my shoulder to see that Penner was sitting on my couch, leaning his elbows on his knees.

“Earlier when your mom umm—when she said that I need to keep you happy—.”

“What about it?” Oh here it comes. He’s going to ask if I’m gay. Here it comes.

“Did she mean what I thought she meant?”

“It depends on what you thought.” I said as I sat down on the couch next to him. There was silence for what seemed like hours, but was just mere seconds before he spoke again.

“You don’t have to tell me Isaac,” He mumbled without looking at me. “I’ll just forget what I heard if you didn’t want me to know.”

“Penn I’m not ashamed of who I am. I understand if you don’t want to be friends anymore, it won’t be the first time a friend bailed on my and it certainly won’t be the last—.”

“Isaac you can’t be serious! If people like us didn’t stick together where would we be in this world?”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘people like us’?” I asked. Was he saying what I think he was saying? Could my dreams become a reality?

“Isaac, I’m bi.” Penner said with a smile on his face.

“That’s a relief.” We both sat just stupidly smiling at each other before Penner cleared his throat.

“So what are you going to do about Nixon?” Penner asked changing the subject.

“I don’t know, but I feel like a horrible person the way I yelled at him.”

“You just saved his life Isaac take it from me strange is bad, dead is worse.”

“And how would you know anything about being strange? Or dead?” I laughed.

“I mean I can’t go anywhere without someone recognizing me, but since I’m back in town when I introduce myself, people are always like ‘Watson, as in Rebekah Watson’ which is a first if I say so myself,” He paused taking a breath. “And the way things are at school because of what happened with Morgan and Jai, most people just don’t come up to me like they used to.” So was Jai’s story true about how Penner abandoned him and his friends for the celeb life? It’s seems like that’s what he was trying to say right?

“It’s because no one knows the real you. To them, you're the mysterious loner guy. It wouldn't hurt to be a part of some clubs, maybe even join some sports team? It will be a good way to make some friends.” I encouraged.

“Says the guy who spends his alone time at home with his family.” My jaw dropped open and I smiled.

“Come on, there's more to me than just that guy. There's a whole other Isaac that you have yet to meet.” I defended.

“Well, I look forward to meeting him and when will that be?”

“Soon,” I smiled. “He's working on it.”

“How do you look in a suit?” Penner blurted randomly.

“I can pull one off.” I said giving him a strange look.

“Do you have any plans for next Saturday?”

“None that I can think of, why?” I asked.

“Well there is this historical society party that means a lot to my mom and it would be less boring if you were there. And I was thinking we should go together as friends to make it less mind numbing then it will already be.”

“Penner Watson,” I started. “Are you asking me on a date?”

“Nope I’m not. We’re just going as friends remember? That is if you want to go—.” Penner trailed off.

“Yes I promise I will go with you—just as friends. Once I figure out how to deal with Nixon.

“Tell him to suck it you won’t have to deal with him anymore.”

“It’s easier said than done.”

“You know,” Penner began. “We’ve actually got a lot in common, me and you.”

“Really?” He nodded. “Well maybe we can bond over our mutual loathing of my brother.”

“You’re mad because he does drugs right?”

“Yeah exactly.”

“Then I shouldn’t have you meet my other friends.”

“Are you saying you would introduce me to your ‘other’ friends?" I said sarcastically.

“Oh I see how it is. You think you’re too cool to meet any of my real friends is that it?” Penner said wrestling me so I was laying on the couch and he was on top of me, pinning my hands above my head.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” I said trying to push him off of me with my legs. Within a heartbeat, my door busted open with my mother walking inside and Penner jumping up off of me, hoping to make it seem different then what was actually happening.

“Penner dear would you like to stay for dinner?” She asked.

“I would love to, thank you Mrs. Baldwin,” He smiled at her as she walked away. “You see, now I don’t look like a goody- good school boy anymore now do I?” Penner said as he started wrestling with me again.

“I surrender, stop! Stop!” I yelled out laughing. He let go of me and went to look at my movie selection.

“What do you want to watch?” He questioned.

“I don’t care, I’ve seen them all. You pick.” I said sitting up.

“Hmm let’s see here,” He said scanning through my shelves of movies. “Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Fast & Furious,” He paused. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s?”

“It’s a classic! Don’t judge me.” 

“Oh some things you do never seem to surprise me,” He continued looking through my movies saying off names that interested him. “You have 21 Jump Street that’s my favorite movie!”

“Well put it in and I’ll get some drinks.”


	10. Sunday, Sept. 9th: I Would Lie & Say That You're Not On My Mind

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

Penner went home last night after midnight after watching 21 Jump Street, The Shining and Batman Forever. After the first movie we didn’t really pay any attention to what was happening in them, we were more focused on just getting to know each other better.

I learned that Penner had a friend named Jason and they were getting closer. I’m sure Penner realized that I was becoming uncomfortable with him talking about being with someone other than myself so he changed the subject.

And then the morning came. Of course breakfast was awkward, I mean who was I going to fool into thinking it wasn’t? Nixon didn’t give one glance at me, he just kept his head down and ate his food silently. I’m glad he was acting like this, that way he wouldn’t see me giving him a full on stare down during the most important meal of the day.

I wasn’t planning on doing anything today, I was going to finish reading Boswell’s London Journal. But that was before a shriek came from the patio.

“What is going on?” I said to myself as I rushed to the back door.

“Katherine you did this! I hate you!” Trey yelled towards my younger sister, obviously unable to hear a word he was saying. I pushed the sliding door open just in time for Trey to come running at me with watery eyes.

“Whoa stop, stop why did you yell at her like that?” I asked kneeling down to look him in the eye.

“She let Simba out of the gate,” He whimpered, a few tears coming down his cheeks. “I hate—.”

“Hey, you don’t hate Kitty, she is your sister.”

“Simba is gone. Just because everyone else hated him doesn’t mean I did. I love Simba.” He cried. Simba is the family cat who is eight years old. My parents got him the same year that Trey was born because they thought Simba would keep us company while they looked after Trey.

“It’s okay buddy, no more tears,” I wiped some of the tears from his chin. “I’ll go looking for him okay.”

“I can go, too.” Trey offered.

“No you should stay here. Just in case he comes back.”

“I guess.” A pout came upon his face.

“Don’t blame Katherine for this, she didn’t know.” He gave me one last nod before running past me and up the stairs into his room. Nixon was cooped up in his and dad was helping mom with the laundry.

You would assume that I would tell them where I’m going, but as my mom said when we moved here I’m almost an adult and I need to learn to be one.

I quickly ran up to my room and grabbed my shoes and keys before backing out of the driveway in my car. I first headed to the local library to make some ‘Lost Cat’ signs with the computers and printers they had available.

Lucky enough I had a picture of Simba saved on my phone from a couple years ago when we went to Minnesota for Christmas. My Grandparents at the time had no clue that Simba existed and I needed to bring a picture along to give them proof.

I made around 25 copies to hang on the street poles and shops. The first place entered was the diner, where I found Carly drooling over the new bartender. I asked the owner, Morgan’s mom, if it would be possible for her to hang it up in her shop. She thankfully agreed as I left to move onto the next place.

When I walked past the ‘Stoner Pit’ I couldn’t help but think back to what happened there yesterday. All the things that Penner said happens down in that dark alley Nixon was now a part of.

When I stopped in front of a store that I never saw before I became rather curious. The shop was called "Caroline’s" and it sold modern clothing for teenagers, at least that’s what it looked like from the outside.

I reached my hand down the open the door when it came swinging back in my direction instead.

“Whoa I’m sorry,” The person said still looking at the ground. “Isaac, hey I didn’t see you there.” Penner said towards me when he finally picked his head up.

“Oh, hi.” I mumbled.

“Are you okay?” I nodded my head. “What's wrong?” He pressed on.

“It's my cat, he's gotten out.” I explained

“I didn’t know you have a cat?” He gave me a confused look.

“He doesn’t come around that much. It’s mostly Trey he likes.”

“I'd go out and look with you, but I've got to help my mom with her shop,” I nodded looking down. I thought he would want to help me after all of the confessions and bonding time we had last night. “I'll put it in the window.” He offered, taking a long gaze at the flyer I made.

“Sure,” I breathed. “Thanks, Penner.” I said giving him one last smile before walking down the next street sign and taping it up on the pole.

“Isaac!” My name bellowed from down the road “If I lost a pet, I'd be really upset, too.” Penner explained as he was out of breath from running to catch up with me.

“Yeah, Trey is pretty gutted.” I said smiling as he took the rest of the flyers from my hands.

“Have you gone to the diner yet?” Penner asked, pointing towards the building.

“Yeah I did right before I came here.”

“Oh,” He breathed. “Have you tried the food yet?” He questioned as we walked further down the block, hanging up signs on our way.

“Nope, I’ve only grabbed coffee with you that one night, but everything around here smells like seafood and salt water. You don’t even have a McDonalds here and trust me when I say we had at least five back in Lincoln.”

“I’m going to get you hooked on the seafood life and you are going to love it,” He smiled. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I started to miss it after being on tour for so long. And the salt water isn’t bad once you’re out in the ocean with the breeze in your face.”

“I wouldn’t know.” I mumbled, ripping tape off and hanging it on the Cedar Street pole.

“I’m going to take you sometime, just me and you,” He began looking into my eyes. “And as a bonus I’ll even show you all the secret hiding spots.”

“Just as long as you don’t feed me to the sharks.” I joked.

The longer we were out looking for the missing cat, the more we continued to learn about each other. I was starting to think that I would know him like the back on my hand any second now.

“So, are you glad you moved to Camden?” Penner asked as we hung the last flyer up on the junk yard fence.

“Yeah I suppose,” I shrugged. “Have you always lived here?” I questioned as we made our way to the ocean front. Some cars honked at us and would scream Penner’s name from their windows.

“Yeah, my ancestors are one of the founders of this town, but I call it God's Waiting Room because it's where people come to die.” I laughed.

“So you’re like famous around here then?” I laughed, using the wrong choice of words.

“Yeah, I’m famous because of something that happened in the 18th century.” He smirked.

“Don’t be sarcastic with me, you know what I meant,” I said making a face at him. “I heard from some of the locals that Camden's the new Augusta.”

“Don't be stupid.” He said leaning against a wooden railing separating the road from the beach.

“It's more peaceful here than Lincoln,” I breathed looking out at the ocean. “I like to come to the beach, usually to read and listen to music.”

“Like what?” He asked.

“I don't know, a little bit of Jack London and Coldplay is my life.”

“Wow that’s pretty cool.”

“You know something you never talk about?”

“What’s that?” Penner questioned not looking at me.

“Your band.” I pointed out.

“I told you the name.”

“I know, but a band is so much more than that.”

“You don’t want to know, it’s not really that incredible.” He said shaking his head and looking down at the shells on the beach.

“Oh please, don’t give me that,” I put a hand on his arm. “I want to hear about all the places you’ve gone, the people you’ve met,” He raised an eyebrow at me. “What does Blunt of The Fourth sound like?”

“We actually have a lot of influences, Vampire Weekend, Kings of Leon.” He listed off.

“My cousin listens to Kings of Leon when he's been on the booze. He knows all the words backwards.”

“My dad plays air guitar really badly. He thinks he's Hendrix.”

“Does he make a killer guitar face?”

“Oh, not as killer as me,” He started making his guitar face, eyes crossed and tongue sticking out while he acted like he was playing his guitar. “I've taken the uncool guitar face to a whole new level,” Penner’s face softened and his eyes sparkled as they roamed my face.

I don’t think there is a way to avoid it any longer—clearly there is something between Penner and I that can’t be denied. We even confessed it to each other last night at my house. We confessed that there was a connection between the both of us.

“I don't think Simba is here.” Penner blurted out.

“He likes the park, too.”

“Okay, let's go.” I said jumping off the wooden fence and walking with Penner to the park.

“So, was that your mom behind the cash register?” I asked starting up the conversation again. 

“Yeah.”

“She's beautiful,” I said looking at Penner. “Mine's crazy.”

“Oh, I doubt it, you’ve never even met my mother.” He laughed.

“No, honestly she's totally insane.”

“Rebekah tells me that she's actually become quite a regular customer.”

“Oh, my God,” I gasped out, hiding my blushing face in my hands. “Promise you won't take anything she says about me seriously.” I peeked through my fingers to get a look at his face.

“That's no problem.”

“Does your dad work in the shop, too?”

“No, he works on the dam a few cities up North,” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “My parents haven’t been getting along too well lately.”

“Oh, sorry.” I said sincerely.

“It's okay,” He beamed. “That's why my mom opened the shop, she's always wanted one. It's good that Rebekah can keep an eye on her, you know?” Out of nowhere I heard what sounded like growling and hissing, sounds that a cat would make. “What's wrong?” Penner asked as if he didn’t hear it at all.

“Nothing,” I breathed catching back up to him. “I thought I heard something.”

“Penner!” A shriek came from the left.

“Look, Isaac, my sister's found him,” It was true, Rebekah had Simba barely in her arms when he leaped away from her and into a nearby bush. “Simba, come here.” Penner said running after my cat.

“Simba!” Rebekah called.

“It's okay, it's all right I'll get him.” Penner comforted.

“He went down there.” Rebekah pointed into the bush and Penner went searching for Simba as if he was hunting a gorilla in a forest.

“Ouch! Simba, come here,” Penner’s voice was able to be heard from where Rebekah and I were standing. “Gotcha! Come on, boy, it's okay.” He soothed my cat who was covered in leaves and twigs, some stuck in Penner’s hair as well.

“Are you okay?” I asked, brushing some of the sticks off of Penner’s clothes.

“Easy, Penn,” Rebekah warned. “He nearly ripped my arm off.”

“Where'd you find him, Rebekah? We've been looking all day.”

“Mom wanted me to go out and get some fresh flowers for the shop and I saw him by the fountain.”

“That's lucky,” He breathed. “That's where we were just about to look.”

“Simba was raised by a family of Canadian beavers, he loves water.” I joked.

“Seriously?” Penner laughed.

“Yeah.” I smiled.

“Well, here you go.” Penner handed over Simba to me, who calmed down and relaxed in my familiar arms.

“What were you doing?” I asked my cat, rubbing underneath his chin. “Thanks, Penner, you saved him.”

“Oh, Penn. Jason called me because you weren’t answering your phone, but he's waiting for you on the dock.” Rebekah cut in between our moment.

“Right, I guess I’d better go.” Penner said giving me an apologetic look.

“Sure, no problem I should get Simba back to Trey anyway. Thanks again for helping me.”

“Yeah, yeah it was fun, are you alright, Izzy?” Penner questioned.

“Oh, yeah.” I lied. I didn’t like the idea of Penner being with anyone with me. I just hope there wasn’t an obvious look on my face like I thought there was.

“I’ll text you later.” Penner said giving me one last smile before walking away with Rebekah.

“Yeah, I’ll look forward to it.” I muttered, carrying my cat back to my car and then into the arms of my waiting younger brother.

(TIME PASS)

"The lost has been found." I called out at two o'clock as I walked into my house to find Trey a little forgotten about his cat, that is until I walked through the door with him in my hands.

"Simba!" He yelled getting up from in front of the TV to rip the animal from my arms. "Thank you Izzy!" He latched onto my waist giving me the hug of my life.

"You're welcome buddy," I smiled patting his hair down. "Just be careful from now on." Trey nodded his head and carried his pet up to his room.

"That was a sweet thing you did for him." My mom praised from the kitchen where she was cleaning up lunch plates. Katherine was at her feet attempting to fold small dish towels.

"Would you expect anything less of me?" I questioned from the entryway.

"Not at all dear. I'm just proud of the man you're turning out to be. Even after the horrible moments you went through a few years back." She said giving me a loving look.

"Don't get all sappy on me mother."

"Okay, okay. Your father is making tenderloins on the grill tonight so I hope you're hungry."

"Yeah I’m starved. Where is he at anyway?"

“Mayor Barker asked if he wanted to play a couple holes of golf during this nice weather.” She explained.

“Is he ever home anymore?” I asked rhetorically.

“He is, just not when you are, which doesn’t seem like an awful lot either.” She pointed out.

“Yeah,” I breathed. “I’ll be in my room.”

“Okay.” She responded. I turned my back to her to see Nixon sitting on the couch glaring at me.

“She’s proud now, just wait until she learns the truth.” He mumbled at me.

I stopped in my tracks and turned my head at him. “Please tell me that is not a threat.”

“Maybe it is.” Nixon smirked.

“You see, if you continue to threaten me I'm going to be forced to react and it will get messy for you.”

“Do whatever you want I don't really care. I’m already in enough trouble as it is.” He growled, getting up and leaving the room.

If I didn’t have enough to worry about already, add that to the list of how everything seems to be falling apart. Clearly Nixon wasn’t affected by the lecture I gave him yesterday, he doesn’t seem like he will ever be affected by it.

(TIME PASS)

Dinner passed and dad talked about how he was becoming friends with everyone in town. Which was bad in my case because if my parents started liking it here they would never want to leave. And the worse things here got the more I missed Nebraska.

All of my childhood friends were back home continuing to live their lives as if nothing changed. Back home, everything was simpler. Nixon wasn’t becoming a delinquent, Trey would still be on his hockey team. And Katherine well, she would still be deaf.

Honestly no matter how much of a man I was becoming the thought of all of this made me want to ball my eyes out. But that was before my phone would vibrate every day with the same name popping up that brought a smile to my face. The name was the reason I wanted to stay in Camden. The name was the reason I could call this place home.

_From Penner: Hey Izzy :)_


	11. Monday, Sept. 10th: Until I Make It Home To You

Monday, Day 10: Until I Make It Home To You

(Penner’s P.O.V)

“Did you tell Jason you weren’t interested anymore?” Rebekah asked the moment I walked into kitchen.

“You know instead of meddling in my personal life it might be a good idea to get one of your own.” I opened the refrigerator door and took a sip right out of the juice carton.

“This isn’t your road trip, bachelor pad life anymore we all have to drink from that.”

“Yeah, but this is my house which you don’t seem to be leaving.” I said, making her slap my arm, causing me to almost spit out the juice in my mouth.

“What the hell, when did you get a new tattoo?” She shrieked grabbing onto my left forearm to look at my newly changed skin pigment.

“A couple days ago.”

“Where?” She breathed.

“Gavin did it down at The Rat for free, well as long as I agreed to do some kind of gig there one night.”

“Were you ever going to tell me that you got the All Seeing Eye on your arm?”

“I mean it’s not my fault you’re blind.” I mumbled looking down at the ink. It looked exactly like it did on the back of the dollar bill, except around the three sides a word covered each edge, ‘We See All’ in Russian.

“How many do you have now?”

“I think 11, maybe 12.”

“Do you have any idea about what the press is going to say about this? They’re going to think you’re obsessed with the Illuminati or something!”

“Have I ever given a damn what they say about me?”

“You did when they talked about you and Tyson,” I licked my lips while trying to keep myself from lashing out at her. “Sorry I shouldn’t have brought that up. I know that’s why you drove mom and dad away, because you thought they were on his side.”

“How did you know that’s what me and Jason were talking about?” I breathed, changing the topic of the conversation.

“Believe me I know about these things,” I snorted. “Did you happen to forget about my relationship past?” She snapped.

“Nope, but I didn’t haven’t talked to him about it yet. I’m meeting up with him later after school to tell him I just want to be friends. The reason I didn’t tell him last night was because I knew you would want to get involved.”

“If I was going to get involved I would set you up with Isaac. I hope he likes tattoos!” She joked. Her comment got me wondering if he would have a problem with me having as many tattoos as I did. I mean it’s not like they were on his body or anything, so what was there to hate?

“You better not get involved with that either,” I warned. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Oh you do?”

“Yes as a matter of fact I do,” She squinted her eyes. “I asked Isaac to the historical society party on Saturday.” I admitted. That felt like a load off my chest telling Rebekah about that.

“You’re telling me you actually asked him out?” She questioned, her jaw seemed to touch the floor.

“Just as friends.” I mumbled.

“Oh please that’s what everyone says before someone catches you making out behind the dead plant in the corner of the room.”

“I want to be more, but he doesn’t.”

“And you know that how?

“Well—.”

“He wouldn’t have gone through all that trouble last week to just ‘hang out’.” She interrupted.

“He’ll go if it’s just as friends and nothing more.”

“You know that mom and dad are going to be there right?”

“Yeah I know.” I sighed. I avoided the both of them so far and I was hoping it would’ve lasted longer than two weeks. But I’m not bailing out on Isaac because of some stupid family feud.

“It wouldn’t be a bad time to talk to them about the dinner you owe me.” She squeezed into the conversation.

“If I’m doing this stupid dinner then you have to ask, I’m not doing it.”

“You are in my debt Baby Penn. This family has to make amends before it gets blown to shit more than it already has.”

“I mean since they are going to be there and I’m going to be there, it’s like we’ll having dinner together so there you go. I am officially debt free.” I smiled.

“Nice try.” She grinned while patting my arm.

“I’m going to be late for school.” I announced when the clock chimed at 7:30AM.

“What’s the hurry for? You don’t have a first hour class.”

“I have a new history teacher and I got a note on Friday saying that he wanted to talk to me before classes started.” I said, fixing my hair slightly in the mirror by the door.

“Then you better get going, but just know that we’re not done talking about this.”

“I can’t wait!” I yelled out sarcastically, grabbing my sunglasses from the end table and walking out the door.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

“Nixon what are you doing in there we’re going to be late!” I yelled through the bathroom door after I just finished constantly knocking.

“Didn’t your brother tell you?” My dad asked.

“What do you mean?”

“He said he doesn’t need a ride from you anymore, that he’s getting a ride from a friend at school.”

“That would’ve been nice to know! You made me stand here for a good ten minutes yelling at nothing!”

“Hey don’t blame me.” I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. This was so Nixon, trying to ruin my day before it even began. This is how he’s getting back at me for what happened yesterday.

“What are you still doing here?” I asked my dad.

“I only have one meeting at 11AM, but there is a town meeting down at civil hall and Jackson asked me to be there.”

“Who’s Jackson?” I questioned.

“It’s Mayor Barker to you,” He smiled. “Don’t you have school to be getting to?” I nodded, grabbing my book bag.

Walking down the path from the front door to the driveway there was always that one stone that was a little higher than the others. And I always tripped on it. I managed to keep my balance, but I dropped my keys in the process. I picked my head up after grabbing the pile metal off the ground and I recognized the car that drove by. It was the car from Russia.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

“Hey Mr. Reed, I'm Penner Watson,” I cleared my throat. “You wanted to see me?”

“You know that your old teacher had a jackass file?” I tried to hide the smile on my face by biting my bottom lip. Obviously he was going to be a good teacher if he didn’t have a problem swearing in front of his students. “No joke, it's typed on a label.” He said holding it out for me to take. I gently took it out of his hands and skimmed through the folder with the names of people that my past teacher hated.

“It has all the ‘troublemakers’ in it but really it's just an opus— to you,” I handed him back the file. “Don't worry about it,” He smiled, throwing it in the trashcan on the side of his desk. “I'm not her so you have a clean slate. Now let's talk about grades.”

I was stunned with how calm he was being about this, Ms. Davis who was 60- something years old would probably die alone with 19 cats at her bedside, preaching to them about all of the pointless history you taught her students the past 40 years.

But Mr. Reed looked about Rebekah’s age, no more than 27, had a nicely sculpted jaw with a little stubble on his face. His eyes were gentle, but almost made you think that they could control you.

“I know it's been rough this past week, but I've been trying to get back into the idea of being at school.” I explained.

“Yeah, I see that but now this is the part where you say to me ‘what can I do to change that,’” He calmly stared at me and when I opened my mouth to ask him what I could do he spoke instead. “Well I'm glad you asked. How do you feel about extra credit?” He questioned, digging around in his bag, pulling out a breakfast burrito and putting his feet up on his desk.

“Yeah, yeah totally.”

“Good write me a paper then.”

“Okay,” I paused. “About what?

“History,” He said, taking a bite of his food. “Pick a topic, but keep it local and none of that Wikipedia crap. These old towns have a rich history so just get your hands dirty, make it sing and we’ll get you back on track, deal?”

“Yeah, deal.”

“You got a week.”

“Actually Mr. Reed,” I said from the door. ”I don’t want special treatment for—.”

“What special treatment?” He winked, continuing to eat his food.

Now I was confused. Did that mean he was giving me special treatment for being who I am or did that mean he didn’t care who I was, that I was just another student in his eyes?

“I’ll see you 6th hour, Mr. Reed.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Watson.”

Outside of Mr. Reed’s class stood Carly and Maddie who I assumed to be gossiping by the quality of their conversation.

“There's such a major lack of male option. Look at the curtain drapes on Olivia Higgins,” Carly said, pointing at the girl who walked by the two of them. “She looks like a hot— can I still say ‘train wreck’?”

“No, that's over.” Lucas turned around the corner and smiled when he saw me so I knew he was going to come and talk to me.

“He hates me.” Maddie piped up. Instantly I knew she was talking about Lucas because what other guy could she be talking about?

“That's not hate,” Carly started. “That's ‘you rejected me, but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to the greatest hits from the 90's.”

When I thought that Lucas was going to stop and chat with me, he kept on walking down the hall and into a classroom. I left and started walking around the school, probably five times before the first bell rang for the day to begin. I was hoping I’d catch Isaac in the hallway, or anyone I knew, that way I wouldn’t look like a hopeless loser. But no matter who I was with I still got stared at, usually by the young freshman girls, and occasionally some boys.

“Hey babe,” Jason said running his hand down my arm as he walked past me. “We’re still on for after school right?” He asked looking at me, but I just simply nodded at him and carried on down the hall to the library to wait before my classes actually started.

I didn’t want to give him the idea that I was leading him on, and it’s not like he isn’t a good guy but I can’t get Isaac out of my mind. My phone buzzed in my pocket and the name ‘Boone’ was lighting up on my screen.

“What?” I snapped.

“Is that anyway to greet your best friend?” Boone joked.

“Sorry,” I sighed. “There’s just a lot of stupid stuff going on, more stupid than usual.”

“You can always come stay with me! I’m lonely now and all I have are my parents.”

“Eh, I’d rather stay here.” I admitted, Isaac coming to my mind.

“Oh is this because of your new found love for your boy toy?”

“Will you stop calling him that, he’s not a boy toy.”

“Hush you know I’m just having fun, besides I have news for you.” I groaned.

“Not bad news I hope.”

“It depends on how you define ‘bad news’.”

“Can you just tell me already?” I asked becoming impatient with him.

“Well the bosses made up their mind about the whole meeting thing,” I sighed waiting for him to continue. “This month while we’re on break we have to go to New York from the 24th thru the 29th.”

“ _We_ as in? Who?”

“Me, you, Rico and Zander are mandatory. But they are letting us bring girlfriends and stuff like that.”

“At least you won’t be without Elsie.” I reminded.

“That’s if she’ll come.” He murmured.

“What do you mean?”

“A couple nights ago we were going to have a Skype date like we do every Saturday.” He paused. “And I kinda went out with some of my old friends from school and they wanted to party—.”

“You didn’t.”

“I forgot all about it and when she called later that night to ask what happened I was completely shitfaced and now I can’t get her to talk to me—I’ve ruined everything. How could I do that to her?”

“You need to beg for her forgiveness, I mean you need to do it every second of every day if you want to get her back,” I sighed. “Don’t you remember how hard it was for you to get her in the first place—.”

“Okay, okay you’re making me feel worse than I did.” He interrupted.

“Sorry, but do you know if anyone else is coming?”

“Zander is bringing Meena, Rico is bringing Carmen and Dimitry is coming for—.”

“Whoa are you serious Dimitry is coming over from Moscow just for this?”

“Well if you would let me finish instead of freaking out, I was going to say he’s coming over to see about helping out students at Duke learn Russian.”

“I’m so excited to see him, it’s been almost a year since I’ve been to Russia.”

I asked Boone if he wouldn’t mind talking on the phone with me for another 30 minutes before I had to go to class. I would much rather look like I had a personal life then have my head buried in a book.

After about ten minutes of pointless chatter between the both of us, I remembered that I had to summarize chapter four of The Great Gatsby and I completely forgot to read it. I quickly explained why I had to hang up on him and I went to the back of the library to sit at an empty table alone. I began skimming through the pages to find important details that would make it seem like I did my homework.

“Do my eyes deceive me?” A familiar voice said from behind me.

“What are you doing in here, shouldn’t you be in class?” I whispered.

“I am in class,” Isaac said pointing over to Mr. Taylor, trying to get control over his loud group of students. I nodded in acknowledgement and turned back to the book, but that was before Isaac put his chin on my shoulder. “You didn’t read did you?” He muttered softly.

“Is it that obvious?” I wondered out loud.

“Well with the scribbled hand writing and that worried look on your face I would say yes, it is obvious.” He remarked, sitting down in the chair next to me and pulling out a piece of paper.

“You’re letting me cheat?” I asked gazing at Isaac’s finished chapter four summary. He put his finger up to his lips to indicate me to keep it a secret.

“See you at lunch.” He patted my hand and rejoined his class, but I didn’t feel guilty staring at his backside as he walked away.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

While changing into my gym clothes Nixon walked into the locker room, giving me a nasty glare all the way to his gym locker.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were getting a ride from someone else?” I asked, throwing my shirt over my head.

“I didn’t realize I had to clear it with you first.”

“That’s not the point,” I took a deep breath in trying to keep my control. “The whole idea of communication is so that, that certain person doesn’t get left banging on the bathroom door for ten minutes—.”

“Are you talking about yourself here?” He interrupted.

“Can you just listen to what I’m saying and stop being such a dick all the time.”

“Me? Being the dick? Are you hearing yourself right now?” He scoffed, throwing down the shirt in his hands.

“What about me?” I tried calming down the situation when I saw that the other boys in the room were starting to stare at the pair of us.

“You’re always trying to take control and make things happen the way you want them to,” He snapped. “Just let things go and let me do what I want.” He said slamming his locker shut and leaving the room.

I took in a deep breath before a head poked around the lockers. “Damn, that was heated.” Lucas said.

“Not now Lucas.”

(TIME PASS)

“You know I saw you driving to school today.” I said taking a bite of my taco.

“Is that so?” I nodded.

“Yeah you were driving down my street, but the only reason I knew it was you because of your Russian imported car.” I joked.

“You know I can give you a ride to school if you want, you know now that you don’t have to take Nixon anymore.”

“How do you know—.”

“Lucas.”

“Why shouldn’t I be surprised?” I sighed.

“I’m really sorry that you’re fighting with your brother.”

“Eh, it’s no big deal.” I spoke truthfully.

“It’s not?” I shook my head, biting my lip.

“It’s honestly no trouble if you want a ride because I would love to spend more time with you than I already do.”

“That would make me really happy.” I smiled.

(TIME PASS)

(Penner’s P.O.V)

It was around four in the afternoon when I told Jason I was going to meet with him. Luckily Isaac had no idea about this meeting, that way he wouldn’t assume anything was going on between the two of us.

“I'm meeting Jason at the diner.” I announced to Rebekah who was lounging on the couch watching re-runs of Seinfeld.

“Good luck with that,” She joked. “Wait, I got this. Don't stay out late, it's a school night.” She tried giving me a parental look.

“Well done, Beks,” I laughed turning to open the door. “Oh.” I gasped when a saw a body standing on the porch.

“Sorry, I was going to knock.” Isaac said giving me a sweet smile.

“No I should be sorry,” I sighed. Oh how much I would rather stay here than go talk with Jason. “I can’t stay I’m meeting Jason.” I mumbled slowly.

“Actually I came to see Rebekah.” I felt like those words were a bit harsh considering he was just here for my sister and not for me.

“Oh well,” I said poking my head into the living room. “She’s just inside, you can come on in.” I said pointing in her direction.

He slipped past me and into the living room to sit next to Rebekah. When he caught me staring at the sight he simply said “Don’t let me stop you from your evening of fun.” Before I turned and left to go to the diner.

(Hannah’s P.O.V)

Crystal finally got back from visiting her dad and I wanted to introduce Nixon to my best friend. We all agreed to meet at the diner because it was a popular hangout spot in Camden.

“Hey Gray.” I said when he was behind the counter grabbing the tray of food to serve to hungry customers.

“Working.” He snapped walking past me to some group of middle school girls. I found Crystal sitting in a booth waiting for me to join her, but as soon as I did Grayson came by with some menus.

“Thanks, Grayson.” Crystal said.

“Do you need another refill?” He asked, a tad bit of flirt coming out of his voice.

“I'd love one.” She said winking at him. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my brother sitting with Morgan who was staring at us. A few words were exchanged between the two before Morgan came over.

“Please tell me you're not hooking up with my brother.” She barked at Crystal.

“I'm not hooking up with your brother.” She said flatly.

“You're such a little brat.” Morgan said leaving the restaurant with Jai following after her.

“Hey, you made it.”

“Yeah I made it.” Nixon said sitting down next to me in the booth.

“Crystal this is Nixon, the one I’ve been telling you about.”

“Nice to meet you.” He smiled to her.

“Hi, Hannah has told me so much about you.”

“Oh? Well I’ve never seen you around school before.”

“She and her brother Dean go to Texas every summer to spend time with their dad.” I explained.

“So, you were born in Nebraska I take it?” Crystal asked making conversation.

“No actually I was born in New Mexico, but I moved when I was still young.”

“Any siblings?” She questioned as Grayson came back with her drink.

“None that I talk to.”

“Of course you do,” I said elbowing him in the ribs. “He has two brothers and a sister.”

“Older brothers I hope.” A smile came across her face.

“Just one, but don’t get your hopes up.”

“Why not?”

“He’s not interested in girls.” He clarified.

“Isn’t that how it always is? The good ones are either gay or taken, it’s a shame,” She took a sip of her newly filled drink before almost choking on it. “You didn’t tell me Penner was back.”

(Penner’s P.O.V)

“Hey.” I offered as Jason sat across from me.

“We should talk.” He blurted out.

“Yeah, we should,” I took a deep breath. “Listen, I’ve been thinking about it and we can’t go there, Jason.”

“Is it because of Isaac?”

“I can’t really say—.” Obviously it was because of Isaac, I mean what else would it be about?

“Fine.” He mumbled.

“Is something the matter?” I asked.

“I don’t understand you, Penner.”

“Why, I’m not that confusing of a person am I?”

“I don’t know.” He whispered and before I knew it he was grabbing the back of my head and yanking my face down for a nearly bruising kiss.

I pulled back instantly, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “You can’t do that.” I said trying to keep my temper.

“Penner,” Isaac cleared his throat from behind me. “You got a second?

“Hey, Isaac.” Jason said calmly.

“Yeah, sure.”

“I’ll see you later Penner.” Jason said getting up and leaving.

“That was nothing, okay,” I tried to explain, but he just sat there and nodded his head at me. “There is nothing going on between Jason and I, we were just talking.”

“I believe you. Look, Penn you’re a lot a things but you’re not a liar,” I looked down at the table. “You’ve always been straight with me, so I believe you.”

“Well, good.” I said picking my head up.

“And that’s why I want to be straight with you because I— I think we got some wires crossed here.”

“Oh, okay.”

“And you should know by now how tongue tied I get and I don’t like this. Whatever this is that’s going on between us and I—I just want to make things better—.”

“You can’t.”

“Why?” He asked taking my hand in his. I can’t believe what was happening, it’s like my dreams were coming true. But why was I saying no? Because I know Rebekah had something to do with this and I want whatever is going to happen between me and Isaac to be real. I don’t want anyone else to have a say in how this all gets played out.

“That’s just—.”

“But Penn—.” He tried to argue.

“Not yet Izzy, okay?” He smiled gently at me before I stood up to go home, “What time should I pick you up tomorrow?”

“Does 7:30AM work?”

“7:30AM it is then,” I smiled. “Have a great night Izzy.”


	12. Tuesday, Sept. 11th: I'm Waking Up I Feel It In My Bones

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

This morning I got up an extra 30 minutes early, just so Penner wouldn’t have to be waiting for me when he pulled into my driveway at 7:30AM. But I found myself sitting for ten pointless minutes before he would pull up in his Russian car.

“Isaac are you up there?” My mom called from the bottom of the stairs that led up to my room.

“Yeah!” Before I knew it her footsteps were getting closer and then my door snapped open.

“I’m glad I caught you before you left, Trey got the idea of having something like a family game night and it doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” She said clearing her throat. “It would be a good chance to catch up with each other because I know that everyone has been busy lately—.”

“Yeah, that’s cool I guess.” I interrupted.

Family game night? That’s exactly what I need. I mean who wouldn’t want to have awkward tension between me and my brother while we play silly child games like _Life_ or _Clue_?

“Alright then,” She grabbed the knob of the door, but then stopped. “I found this recipe online for some different ways to make spaghetti for dinner so it’ll be ready around six.”

“Okay,” My head went towards the window when I heard a honk from the driveway. “I gotta go, see you later.”

“Who’s out there?” She asked.

“Penner’s giving me a ride.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well obviously Nixon doesn’t need me anymore and Penner offered to give me a ride.”

“You and I need to talk about him—.”

“Can we not?” I rushed past her and into the front seat of his foreign car, closing his door with a huff.

“Is everything okay?” I could feel him looking at me.

“Just stupid family stuff just—just going on all the time and I can’t ever seem to get away from it.”

“You’re having family problems?”

“No, it’s not that it’s just stress I think, from the whole moving across the country thing.”

“Well I’m here if you ever need an escape from reality,” I glanced over at him for the first time since I was in his car, he had a large grin on his face with sunglasses covering his eyes. I finally started looking around at his car and it looked like it was covered from head to toe in black leather.

“Is it living up to your expectations?” He questioned, assuming that he saw the smile that was on my face.

“I’m speechless,” I said running my fingers along the material on the arm rest. “It must be nice living the luxury life.”

He scoffed quietly and then there was a short pause before he spoke out, “You’re just like everyone else.”

“Penn I-I,” I stuttered. “I didn’t mean to make you upset, I actually envy you if I’m being honest.”

“And if I’m being honest I don’t want you to envy me,” He admitted. “Why would you want to be away from your family and friends all the time?”

“My life isn’t as perfect as you make it out it be.” I mumbled softly, but it was true.

“I like you because you’re just you. I don’t need to be flawless or be anyone else but myself when I’m around you.”

“And that’s all I want for you is to be able to be comfortable with who you are. I don’t want you change for anybody ever, no matter who it is because they should love and care for you just by who _you_ are.” I confessed from my heart.

I understand why Penner wouldn’t want me to be envious of him, but if I was going to be jealous of anyone it was sure going to be him. I gave him one last look before turning forward, seeing the school off in the distance.

We pulled into the parking lot and Penner said that he had to go ask Mr. Reed about his paper so he left me looking for any of my other friends. I turned my head both ways when I entered the school and I spotted a brunette standing alone.

“Hey there Miss. Thang,” I joked at Morgan, who blankly stared at the bulletin board of events “Are you okay?”

“They’re having auditions for the winter play after school on Thursday.”

“Is that your thing?” I wondered.

“I guess you could say that. Jai has his baseball and this is something that's really interesting to me.”

“Oh, what play are they doing?”

“Hmm let me see,” She said skimming down the sheet of paper. “It’s _Alice_.”

“As in Alice in Wonderland?”

“Exactly.” She nodded.

“Well just how long have you been in the acting phase?”

“Since the eighth grade when they did _West_ _Side_ _Story_. I was just an extra, but I’ve been working my way to the lead roles.”

“So are you going to be auditioning for Alice then?” I smiled.

“I would like to.”

“Then what’s stopping you?”

She was about to answer before Jai came up behind her and started kissing her neck, making her laugh.

“Hey Isaac, Hannah told me that she saw Penner and Jason Brewer kissing at the diner last night.”

“Yeah I know.”

“Aren’t you pissed that he’s taking your man?” He asked, his arms still wrapped around Morgan.

“There is nothing going on between me and Penner.”

“Nothing yet.” Morgan pointed out.

“He told me that the kiss was nothing and I believe him.”

“You seem to put a lot of trust into people you barely know,” Jai started. “I mean for all you know Morgan and I could be psychopaths who escaped prison on four counts of murder and you would blindly trust us.” I shifted my eyes from Jai’s to Morgan’s and she was grinning largely at Jai’s story.

“Hmm,” I pondered. “I’ll be looking out for Wanted posters from now on.”

(TIME PASS)

At lunch, Penner got up claiming to have to use the restroom right after Jai left to get more food, so it was just Morgan and I sitting at the table.

“So earlier when we were talking about the play, you said you weren’t sure if you wanted to audition for Alice or not.”

“Yeah I’m not sure.”

“Why is that, I thought you were really excited about it?” She turned her head to Jai who had two bags of chips in his hand who stopped to talk with who I would assume was the rest of the baseball team.

“Is it Jai?”

“You can’t say anything to him!”

“Morgan you can’t let him control your life—.”

“He’s not controlling my life.” She cut in.

“Then what would you call it?” I questioned.

“I call it being a supportive girlfriend.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Well Jai wants me to be at his games and his parties, but if I make a huge commitment by taking the lead role I won’t be able to be there for him.” She tried to explain.

“I might not know a whole lot about the whole relationship thing, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a one way street,” I started. “You have to support him and he has to support you, you can’t just be doing all of the work.”

“Jai won’t take it well.”

“What won’t I take well?” I jumped as Jai’s voice sounded from behind me.

“Oh we were—we were just—.” Morgan stuttered, trying to come up with something to say.

“We were just talking about what would happen if someone crushed your chips, but Morgan knew you wouldn’t take it well.”

“And she was right,” Jai said leaning across to kiss her cheek. “Don’t get any ideas now, I need these after school when I’m done with weights.” He guarded his chips in-between his arms.

Morgan and I exchanged glances one last time before the bell sounded, but Penner never returned.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

Today’s lunch was different than other day because of two reasons. Reason one was because Morgan and Jai decided to join us today and I thought I saw a hint of tension surrounding what happened between the three of us. I think the only reason they began sitting with us was because they’re friends with Izzy.

Reason two was because Isaac and I didn’t really talk at all. You know just the basic awkward little things like chatting about the weather or asking if I received any homework yet. I didn’t want him to think I was mad because of our little argument this morning and I hoped he wasn’t mad at me either.

When Jai got up to get his food, I excused myself to go to the “restroom”, but really I needed to talk to Boone.

During the conversation I asked him how he ever got Elsie to give him a chance because you see, Elsie is very independent and has a very loud voice.

“You know I met her when I went to get that rabbit’s foot tattoo when we were in Poland. She was just sitting in there with Sierra, but her hair wasn’t purple yet it was green—or was it blue, actually I think it—.”

“Boone, the color of Elsie’s hair is irrelevant to the matter at hand.”

“Okay, okay,” He started again. “When I told the tattoo guy what I wanted she pointed out that I was American and I told her where I was from and she said that she was also from America. We talked that entire week we were in Poland and I asked her to be my girlfriend before we were supposed to go to Switzerland that next day. She said no, but to ask her again when I came to visit her back in America.

So on our America tour we stopped near her town and when we were in Poland she kept saying how much she wanted these pair of shoes and I just happened to get them before I left and that’s kinda how I won her over. Not to mention all the begging and pleading, telling her that I would treat her right and everything.”

“Well not to be rude but that didn’t help me at all, I don’t even remember half of that story.” I admitted.

“If you want to win Isaac over buy him a pair of shoes.”

“Boone, Elsie is a girl who likes that kinda stuff.”

“Well if you didn’t like that answer why did you ask me? Don’t you have any gay friends you can ask about your relationship stuff, I mean I wish I could help you out but I’m not gay—you know?”

“I know, you’re just being a good friend,” The bell rang loudly in the background. “Listen I gotta head to class, but thanks for the advice—sorta.”

“You know I’m always here for ya Penn.”

“Catch you later B.” I ended, hanging up the phone and going off to class.

When the time came I was sitting in Mr. Reed’s lesson. He was like another student in my eyes because of how much he basically acted like one. He would do a little gossiping here and there, but he would mainly just talk about how hungry and tired he was. But when the teacher side of him came out let’s just say I didn’t really care much for him.

“Once our home state of Maine joined the union during the American Civil War, it created a remarkable amount of tension within the state. People in Maine's northern region had different ideas than those from the old-style state. Then there was speculation surrounding the idea that part of Maine was going to break off and join Canada due to the stresses of fighting against their own country.”

45 minute classes and that was all I got out of it, but it wasn’t like I truly gave him my attention anyway. I told Isaac that I was going to meet him at my car after school, that way he would show up when he wanted to.

Believe it or not he was there before I was.

“What are you doing out here so early?” I smiled.

“I just didn’t want you wait for me.”

“That was kind of you,” I unlocked my car and just as I was taking him home a question popped into my head. “So what are you doing tonight, Rebekah and I are going to the diner if you’re ready to try the food here.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun, but my mom wants to have family game night because she thinks that our family is drifting apart.” That sounded an awful lot like how my family was becoming, but at least his parents are doing something about it.

“Yeah, we can do that whenever you’re free so that’s not a problem.”

“I’m just looking forward to you taking me boating before the weather gets colder.”

“I’ll be preparing the boat for you,” He silently laughed to himself. “So what did you and Rebekah talk about last night after I left?”

“Oh she umm—I just wanted to stop by and—and thank her for the time she looked after my siblings, you know,” He stuttered. “But I just wanted to say how much I appreciate her—her helping Katherine at daycare. Rebekah has been really helpful with teaching her with—with the basic things.”

For some reason I didn’t believe his story at all. I mean one minute you show up at my house asking for my sister and the next you’re at the diner wanting to talk about a possible relationship with me. So instead of bringing that up I just settled with, “Yeah she’s always been great with kids.”

Only seconds later did I pull my car into Isaac’s driveway and we both sat in a bit of awkward silence before he spoke out, “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

He leaned across the car to wrap his arms around my neck and give me a warm hug that I returned gently. It seemed to last forever, but sooner than later he pulled away, grabbing his bag off the floor.

“Bye, Penn.”

I didn’t even get a chance to reply before he was out of my car and into his garage, climbing the stairs up to his bedroom.

(TIME PASS)

(Zach’s P.O.V)

I was on my second glass of scotch with a stack of homework papers that desperately needed to be graded sitting on the table next to me. But I thought so what the best place for me to get that done was and I came up with the diner.

“Bourbon," A voice muttered, clearing his throat. "Behold the teacher,” I glanced to my left as my title was called out. A man around my age was sitting just one chair away from me. “Don't you have some papers to grade?”

“It's—uh, more fun with a buzz.” I said tapping on my scotch-filled glass.

“Well most things in life are, sobers miserable.”

“You don't look like someone who gets miserable.”

“You say that like you know me.”

“Nope it’s just a guess,” He smirked. “I’m sorry, but do I know you.”

“I’m Dean Rooney.”

“Crystal’s brother, I would assume?” I asked, but he simply nodded at me before taking his glass and walking away. “You have a good evening.” I called after him.

“Not likely.”

I laughed silently to myself because I didn’t understand why he would come up and start a conversation with me, maybe it was just because he was trying to be nice in his own way.

I watched him walk throughout the whole restaurant before he passed a table that was seating a certain person I recognized. A certain rock star if I was being honest.

(Rebekah’s P.O.V)

“You know it’s disturbing that you won’t stop staring at my teacher.”

“I like a man who can eat dinner alone, it’s a quiet strength.” I continued to occasionally glance up at Penner’s teacher, hoping that he would never see me looking at him.

“I thought you were still in that whole Ian misery thing?” Penner asked.

“I've sworn off men forever, but it doesn't mean I can't observe them from a harmless distance.” I smiled.

“Well, I can introduce you.” He offered.

“No, that’s okay just tell me more about your paper, have you picked a topic?”

“No, not yet. It's gotta be local and non-internet research, so.”

“That's easy you got all of dad's stuff.” I recalled.

“What stuff?”

“How the Watsons founded Camden, all that family lineage from way back. Dad really loved all that family history stuff. It's all boxed up at their house.”

“Can’t you just get it for me?” He whined at me.

“Nope, and besides it’s Tuesday so they’re going to be out anyway.”

“Out doing what?” He wondered.

“I don’t know they just go out with friends every Tuesday.” I explained.

“Penner,” I turned my head to the voice. “What's up, man?” His teacher reached his hand out to shake my brother’s.

“Mr. Reed this is my sister, Rebekah.” I smiled wide, but not trying to make it look excited either. I just hoped that my palms weren’t sweaty.

“Zach Reed,” He offered his hand to me. “It's nice to meet you.” I took his hand which was warm and soft against my own skin.

“Penner was just telling me about his paper,” I started. “Thanks for giving him another chance.”

“It was my first day, I wanted to make a good impression,” He gave a look at Penner, grinning at him before saying, “Well I should let you get back to your night.”

“I’ll see you in class tomorrow Mr. Reed.” Penner said.

“The same to you,” He moved his eyes in my direction, “It was nice meeting you Rebekah.” He continued to smile at me until he went back to his seat at the bar.

“You’re crushing on him.”

“Is it a crime?”

“It should be because that’s my teacher.”

“Yeah well I’m also a teacher.” I fought back.

“I’m gunna go get that stuff from mom and dad’s before they get back.”

“Do you need me to give you a ride?”

“I’ll just walk home and get my car so don’t wait up on me,” He said standing up. “Here’s money for dinner.” He offered $20 to me.

“No I got it, I’ll just stay and play with your teacher.” I joked.

“Ugh, goodbye.” He groaned, walking out of the restaurant with his coat in his hands.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

It’s crazy to think that my history teacher might possibly be dating my sister. So crazy that I wanted to gag just at the thought. But the rattle of cans and bottles being knocked over snapped my attention down into the Stoner Pit.

“Hey man, tell your mom that she needs to buy that kind all the time!” it was just another group of underage drinkers and I was going to walk away before I heard the next voice that came from the alley.

“Dude, I doubt she’ll even miss it.”

I tried to sneak up on him that way he wouldn’t get a chance to run away, but why is it always me that catches him doing illegal things he shouldn’t be doing?

“Nixon, why are you down here?” I asked trying to get a better look at his drunk friend. “Grayson Moseley?”

“Oh shit, it’s the fun police.” He said putting his hands up in defense.

“Don’t you all have anything else better to be doing right now?”

“What could be more fun than this? Haven’t you ever tried this?”

“Yes I have and it’s one of the stupidest things I’ve done in my life. Aren’t you supposed to be at family game night Nixon?”

“Nah man, it’s cool just chill and it will all be good bro.” His head leaned back against the brick wall.

“I’m not your ‘bro’,” I started. “I think I need to call Isaac.” I said reaching for my phone.

“No, not with this, promise you won’t tell him. I’ve been trying to get better I swear.”

I knew what my automatic answer should be, but something inside of me made me remember just how much Nixon was like me. Would I want to get ratted out to Rebekah for stupid mistakes I did when I was younger?

I went with my gut instinct and gave him what he wanted to hear.

“I promise.”

(Rebekah’s P.O.V)

Just a few minutes after Penner left, I paid the bill and made a big decision in my mind. I was going to start a conversation with Zach, so I got up from my table and went up to the bar.

“Penner totally abandoned me.” I started off with, taking the empty chair next to him.

“Where’d he go?” His voice was filled with a hint of sleepiness.

“Home, it's not that far he can walk it.”

“So are you from here? Are you a townie?”

“I'm a returnee,” I started. “I left town for a while, but now I'm back.”

“Why'd you leave?”

“School, but then there’s the time when Penner was gone,” Zach gave me a funny look and I continued on. “And then there's the real reason. I was wronged by a guy named Ian.”

“What'd he do?”

“The basics, he lied, cheated, lured me back in, and left me again,” I paused. “Your turn, so do you have any sad relationship stories?”

“The basics, I fell in love, married young, but my wife left me.”

“Oh, wow.”

“Yeah, that's always a good conversation stopper.” He ran his finger along the edge of his glass.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Well, you and I are questioning the same thing,” He began. “She claimed it was because of our differences, but that’s why I married her in the first place. We were so different that we actually had a lot in common.”

“So why'd you move here of all places?”

“It’s a good change of stride, fresh scenery,” He smiled. “I like it here, it's got a rich history.”

“Yeah it does.”

We both sat in silence for a couple seconds before he spoke out, “I think I’m too drunk to drive, but I’d be more than happy to walk you home.”

“I’d like that actually, thank you Zach.” I smiled at him while he packed up his papers and we headed back to Penner’s place.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

Stupid family game night. It wasn’t even ‘family’ because Nixon left to study for a test at a friend’s house. This was probably the worst idea this family ever had.

On my way back to the garage, I had to take the games back to their spot for storage, but with the games blocking my view I was left looking down at the ground. Although when I found feet in my way I nearly dropped everything in my hands.

I tried to wiggle the boxes so I could see who was there and it was none other than Penner Watson. “What the hell are you doing here?” I breathed.

“A failed and pathetic effort at doing the right thing.”

“Which was?” I asked, being extremely confused at his statement.

“It’s not important,” He smiled softly. “Let me take those for you.” He motioned at the games in my arms and I let him take them in his own.

“Thank you.” I said, leading the way to the garage. I let him come inside and up to my room, but not before he dropped the games off on the shelves against the wall.

“So did you have a rough night?” He asked as we sat down on my couch, turning on the TV to watch re-runs of _Friends_.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Just a little.”

“And the worst part of it was, Nixon ditched us to go study with his buddies from school. If I knew that was allowed I would’ve been with you in a heartbeat,” Penner swallowed so hard I could hear him from my side of the couch. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah I just was—was wondering what you would do if I was to burst out into song randomly.”

“I would reach across the couch and strangle you until you stopped.”

“That’s a bit harsh don’t you think?”

“You would deserve it though.”

Throughout the rest of the night, we would talk and laugh about silly things in our lives, but then we would stop and listen to Chandler and Monica argue once in a while. Even though Penner had been over several other times before, he seemed a little tense being here with me.

“Are you okay you seem a little uneasy?”

“Can I tell you something that has been on my mind the whole day?”

“Umm, yeah I suppose.”

“For every guy or girl there comes a time when you say, 'it’s time'. Your friends call you up for a party and they tell you, 'it's time'. When you reach ‘that’ age and your parents when to have ‘the talk’ with you, they tell you ‘Son, it's time.’ The whole damn universe tells you.”

“What does that mean?” I asked softly.

“What does it mean— it means I’m an idiot, because I thought for one second that I wouldn’t have to feel guilty anymore.”

“What are you talking about guilty for what?

“For wanting what I want,” He stared deeply into my eyes, but slowly moved closer to me on the couch. “I don’t know, maybe I’m just a sucker for guys like you.”

“Like what?” I whispered.

“Lost.” He moved his eyes down to my lips and back up again. I knew what was going to happen when he leaned in further.

“Penn, stop before you do something you’ll regret.” I sat frozen on the couch as Penner slowly backed away.

“I’ll uh,” He cleared his throat. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow, yeah? Same time and everything?”

“Yeah,” I breathed, standing up with him. Just as I did this afternoon I reached up to hug him again because I know his feelings were being torn in different directions, but how could I possibly be of any help?

“Bye, Penn.” I said leading him to the door. I went over to my window and watched him get in his car and drive down the road where I would eventually see him again in the morning.

(Rebekah’s P.O.V)

“You're so wrong, I'm much more pathetic.” I said being flirty.

“Oh no, no I've got you beat. Trust me I have pathetic down to a science.”

“Oh no we haven't even covered high school, not to mention I had braces and an 'A' cup.”

“Well I had to suffer through glasses and a skin condition.”

“You can,” I began, but once I looked through the door to see Penner going through all of our family history, I figured I would make him feel less awkward then he already did. “You know what, I'm not gonna invite you in,” I pointed my thumb towards my brother. “Penner, and all.”

“Well, some other time then, but have a good night Rebekah.”

“Are you going to be able to get your way home?” I asked.

“Oh yeah, this is nothing!” He yelled from the street, not before knocking himself into a trashcan. I laughed as I watched him walk tragically down the road, drunk and alone.

“I’m glad you started looking through those,” I said walking up behind my brother. “I want to know what you find.”

“Well I found this.” He held a picture up for me to look at.

“Me and Ian,” It was a picture of the two of us on high school graduation day. “That's just harsh.” I said ripping it in half.

“Harsh is dating my history teacher.”

“I'm not dating him,” I threw the crumpled up picture in the trash. “Not yet, anyway.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ummm none of the history in his story is real? Maybe..? I just made it up


	13. Wednesday, Sept. 12th: Ever Imagine A Heart Open & Free?

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

I was sitting in English this morning where we were supposed to continue reading The Great Gatsby, but I found myself thinking about how my day actually started.

Penner picked me up at 7:30AM just like he said he was going to, but he didn’t talk about the move he tried to make on me last night. He didn’t talk about why he showed up at my house completely out of the blue either. I honestly think he was trying to act as if it never happened at all. He did tell me about how Rebekah was starting to like his history teacher, but who is going to deny a bit of gossip and drama, especially when I concerns a teacher?

Nixon was already gone by the time I left. How many excuses could he come up with so mom and dad would let him do whatever he wanted? I no longer saw him at school as much I used to, but if I did, he was walking into class late and then I would overhear that he would have detention after school.

Occasionally I would see Trey and Katherine roaming around the house while I was getting ready to leave. I’m sure last night they talked about what was going on in their lives, but I didn’t pay any attention because I had no particular interest in the matter.

Did that make me a bad person because I was only thinking of myself?

“Hey, Isaac!” His shout made me jump in my seat.

“Umm, what?”

“I remember you telling me that you can read right?”

“Yes, Mr. Taylor I can read.” I said, playing along.

“Well good then read to us on page 132, starting with ‘He talked a lot’ and tell us what it means.”

“Okay,” I skimmed the page, noticing I was three behind everyone else before clearing my throat. “ _He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy,_ ”

I looked up at him and he signaled me to continue on. _“His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly he could find out what that thing was—._ ” 

“Stop,” Mr. Taylor interrupted. “Now give me your thought on what he was trying to say.”

“Well I think that Gatsby can't deal with what his life has become, but instead of wanting to change it by going forward, he wants to head back into the past. Even though we see it doesn't work like that.” I got my last word out when the bell sounded above me.

“Well done Mr. Baldwin,” He said smiling at me. “No homework tonight people, and you have Isaac to thank for that.” Bellows of my name came from the class as people began to leave.

“You saved the day Isaac,” Morgan said walking up beside me. “Now I can have that time to study my lines.”

“You’re going to audition for that part?”

“Yeah, but don’t tell Jai,” She said looking over her shoulder. “Not yet anyway. I don’t want him to know.”

I smiled at her and simply said, “Okay,” before she took off down the hallway to her next class.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

There are so many excuses to get you out of class. I have to go to the bathroom, I need a drink, or my fingers are numb. But the best one of all is needing to go to your locker. Everyone knows where the bathroom is, but your locker could be on the other side of the school and who knows how long that’s going to take.

Everyone who says they need to leave is lying. So when I said I needed to get my jacket from my locker because it was ‘too cold’ I was lying.

I just didn’t want to hear Mr. Roth go on and on about the creator of sociology. No one cares who did it, but someone cares that it’s there.

I was walking like a zombie in the hallways, taking every detour I could, occasionally reaching down to ‘tie my shoe’ about four times. When I felt a small kick on the back of my foot I turned my neck to see that someone was standing behind me

“Excuse me,” A nasally voice apologized from behind me. I finished tying my shoe and got out of his way.

“Sorry about that,” I said. The guy had about ten tissues that were drenched in blood attached to his nose, his head looking straight up at the ceiling. “Are you okay do you need help getting to the nurse?”

“Penner?” The boy asked still not moving his head down.

“Izzy?” He nodded at me. He was wearing his gym clothes which meant he got a bloody nose during class. At least I was hoping that’s what happened.

“What on earth happened to you?” I asked, latching one arm around his waist and the other going around his arm.

“We were playing basketball in gym class,” He began as I lead him to the nurse. “And I guess my brother is still pissed at me, because he threw the ball at my face when I wasn’t looking.”

“Are you sure it was him?”

“I haven’t made any other enemies.” I opened the door for him when we got to the nurse’s office.

They put him on the cot in the corner, gave him some clean tissues and a small ice pack for his swelling nose. But when they asked me to go back to class I saw a hint of anxiety on Isaac’s face. He begged the nurses to let me stay and they reluctantly allowed it, calling up to Mr. Roth to let him know where I was.

“Are you okay?” I pulled up a chair next to him, checking to see if the bleeding had stopped.

“Yeah it’s getting better.” He said taking his hand and gripping it to mine. He pulled his arm back so our hands were laying in his lap.

“Are you sure, you’re still bleeding?”

“Yeah I’ll be fine, as long as you’re here to keep after me.” He gave me a hidden smile behind all of the tissues on his face.

The nurses forced me to go to my next class once the bell rang for classes to end. No matter how much Isaac asked for me to stay there was nothing I could do to make him happy. Even though I knew he was tough I could sense he didn’t want to be left alone in a room that smelled like rubber gloves.

So I was tapping my pencil on the desk during Chemistry, trying not to think of Isaac bleeding to death. The phone on the wall started ringing and it was a perfect opportunity to check and see if Isaac was doing any better.

I unlocked my phone to find a red circle with the number 1 on my messages icon. I clicked on it and Isaac’s name popped up on my screen.

_From Izzy: The nurses called my mom because my nose wouldn’t stop bleeding. They think it might be broken._

I quickly typed back a reply, looking at the door to see my teacher’s back to the class and the phone to her ear.

_To Izzy: Do you need me to come and get you? I’ll take you home?_

_From Izzy: No my dad called me and told me he was coming to get me. Just don’t worry too much about me._

_To Izzy: How can I not worry about you?_

_From Izzy: Can you survive the rest of the day without me?_

_To Izzy: Nope :(_

Then there was no more messages.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

My dad wasn’t particularly happy that he had to come and get me from school, especially over a bloody nose. So the drive to the hospital was quiet except the low mumbled voices coming from the morning radio talk-shows.

We waited in the emergency room for about two minutes before I was being called back by a nurse.

“Hello Isaac, my name is Larissa,” She said looking down at her clipboard. “Let me take your vitals before I give your nose a look,”

I sat there patiently while she did her routine work before she took the tissues off my nose with her glove covered hands.

“My, my,” She turned my face in her hands. “How in the world did you manage this?”

“I’m not very good at sports.” I smiled weakly. She reached over to grab some cotton balls before cleaning my nose of all the dried blood.

“Well I don’t think it’s broken, but I’ll have the doctor come in and take a look at it.” She said smiling, giving me the box of tissues before leaving the room.

The doctor came in shortly, checking to see if I had any pain in my nose. Obviously I did, I was nailed in the face with a basketball, but I didn’t tell him that.

“I’m going to send him over to the X-Ray lab to make certain if it is broken or not. There is obvious pain and constant bleeding and I think that will be best for him,”

He gave my dad a piece of paper to give to the secretary when he walked across the hall of the building. It was about ten times smaller than the one in Lincoln, but it was the best they had.

An hour passed before I was able to leave. After my X-Ray we sat for 20 minutes until my nose stopped bleeding, and the results showed that it wasn’t broken.

“Well this is good news, but Isaac will have a bruised nose for a couple weeks and a headache for the rest of the day,” I sighed. “I can give you a note to excuse you from school, but I don’t think you should be in gym doing any kind of activity.” He wrote me two notes, one for missing today and the other to get me out of gym.

“I’ll take you home and then I have to make up time from missing work,” My dad said unlocking the car. “That means I’ll be home later than usual.”

“Okay.” I mumbled quietly, staring out the window as we drove down street after street. My dad wasn’t honestly blaming me for everything that happened. I wouldn’t hit myself in the face with basketball, you would have to be stupid to do that. It didn’t matter what the truth was, my dad wouldn’t believe it anyway.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

I walked outside after school, grabbing Isaac’s homework from his teacher’s like he asked me to do, but I don’t think I’ll ever understand why I always have to run into this kid everywhere I go. Nixon was sitting on a bench alone, looking like he was waiting for someone.

“What are you doing out here?” I asked.

“Waiting for my mom to pick me up.”

“Where is your other ride?”

“They left without me because I didn’t get out here in time.” I leaned in having a hard time hearing him, his voice soft and quiet.

“How much longer are you waiting for?”

“I don’t know two hours maybe.”

“C’mon I’ll give you a ride.” I offered.

“I don’t need one.”

“Clearly you do, I’m going to your house anyway.”

“Why?” He questioned.

“To check on Isaac and his nose,” Nixon raised his eyebrow. “But I don’t think you would know anything about that would you?”

“So maybe I did hit it, maybe I didn’t, it’s my words against his.”

“Who’s going to believe a 15 year old, drug using liar?” I snapped.

“You can call me that now, but you don’t even know the full story.” I realized fighting with Nixon was pointless because he always had to have the last word.

I took a deep breath and asked “Do you want a ride or not?” He nodded before picking his book bag up and following me to my car.

He was silent during the drive to his house, to busy texting and playing Fruit Ninja on his phone. Nixon and I occasionally butted heads, but if he would just get past this phase he was in there was no doubt in my mind that he was good kid.

“Here we are home, sweet home.” I put my car in park while we sat in the driveway.

“Okay spill,” I turned my eyes towards him. “Why are you being nice to me?”

“I drove you home, you don’t have a car.”

“I don’t buy it.”

“Buy what?” I asked.

“The whole kind thing, what are you up to?”

“It’s sad that you can’t just get a ride home from school without thinking there is some hidden intention,” He grabbed the handle to open the door, but I locked it from my side.

“Just know that if you continue to act like this there is nothing stopping me from breaking the promise I made to you,” He didn’t make any eye contact with me. “You can either fix your attitude and stop this nonsense or Isaac is going to know all about your extracurricular activities am I clear?”

“Sure.” He nodded. I unlocked the car and let him out, watching him walk inside. I got my phone out and dialed Isaac’s number that I had memorized by heart.

“Hello?” A sleepy boy answered.

“Crap, I didn’t wake you did I?”

“Just a little, but I’m awake now.”

“I’m outside,” I smiled watching his window, within seconds I saw his figure looking down at me. He waved at me and I asked, “Can I come up?”

(Rebekah’s P.O.V)

After I got off of work it was after 4PM. I went down to the diner to pick up my tea I ordered over the phone, but in my opinion Larissa Moseley made the best tea in town.

“I should’ve guessed I would find you here.” I turned my head to see none other than Zach Reed with a glass of bourbon in his hand.

“Are you resorting to day drinking now?”

“Don’t judge this is my first glass.”

“I’m not judging, I’m admiring.”

“Would you care to join me?” He asked. I bit my lip and looked down at my watch. “Please, I can’t grade papers sober and you are the only one with decent company.”

“I am decent?” He turned and smiled leading me to the bar.

One thing I liked about Zach was he didn’t talk about his work often. He never gave me a history lesson whenever there wasn’t anything to talk about. But instead of him talking, I just rambled on about the news that I received today.

“So now I'm playing historical society hostess to some writer who's doing this book on small town Maine.”

“Well that sounds—.”

“Lame, but Kelsey Barker is using the “I have a toddler" card and said she was too busy to deal. Plus, my mom kept most of the archives, so there you have it.”

“What's the person’s name? He questioned.

“Uh, Lewis Tulsan.”

“Tulsan?”

“Yeah do you know him?” I asked, keeping my eyes on him. He shook his head back and forth before switching papers and asking for a refill on his drink.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

It turns out that Isaac isn’t broken, which is such a relief. I think that if he was severely injured I would tell him Nixon’s secret in a heartbeat, no matter if I promised him or not.

I almost cringed every time I looked at Isaac. He had a bruised spot covering most of his nose, a mix of purple, blue, and green. When I saw the damage that Nixon did to him, my skin started to boil. I didn’t understand how anyone would want to hurt my Izzy, he was sweet and innocent—wait. _My_ Izzy?

“It didn’t take you a long time to get my stuff did it?” He asked looking through the few pages of notes he got from Chemistry class, both of us sitting on his bed.

“No I was in and out.” A knock on his door made us both look in that direction.

“Oh good I found you,” My mom said poking her head through the door. “Nixon told me that you gave him a ride home from school—.”

“I’m sorry I should’ve—.”

“I’m not here to correct you on that act of kindness. I just want you to know that I greatly appreciate you looking after the members of this family.”

“It’s not a big deal, I’m sure they would’ve done the same for me.”

“Just know that I appreciate it.” She ended before going over to examine Isaac’s nose. He gave him a list of instructions to do like take medicine for his headaches and keep putting on ice so the swelling will go down. She kissed his cheek before leaving his room.

“You never told me about that, what you did for Nixon.”

“It wasn’t about you, it was meaningless.”

“I’ve been trying to figure you out and I just realized something,” I turned my eyes to him, raising my eyebrows. “You rarely let people see how decent you are.”

“I know.” I said looking at my lap.

“Why is that?”

“Because when people see morality, they expect it,” I glanced back up at him. “And I don’t want to live up to anyone’s expectations.”

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on you. Fool me three times, shame on me. At that spot in my mind I’ve decided that the third time is the charm. And I wasn’t going to stop.

I leaned in, trying to press our lips together softly before shame was going to be put on me.

“Don’t.” Isaac whispered.

“Why not,” I said getting up from the bed and standing up. “Isaac, I don’t understand I mean, all the signs are there right? The longing looks, the hand holding and the flirting. Unless I’ve been fooled by my desire for you and I’ve taken things the wrong way.”

“My desire overtook my morals," He began. "I believe in my morals because those are certain, those are things that I know. And what I don’t know scares me to the point of me being crippled by it.” I could see that he was choking up by the way his hands were shaking when he played with his sleeve on his sweatshirt.

I walked over to the other side of the bed when Isaac was sitting and I placed myself right next to him so our knees were touching. “My desires overtake my morals on a regular basis,” I explained keeping my eyes on him. “And I call it living life to the fullest.”

(TIME PASS)

I didn’t kiss Isaac tonight. So, shame isn’t on me anymore because I wasn’t fooled. I was given the truth. And the truth is he’s just a guy and he loves carelessly and passionately even if it overwhelms him. But when all is said and done, there’s nothing more significant than the bond of family.

After saying good night to Isaac and letting him know I’ll still pick him up in the morning, I heard noises from downstairs that alarmed me when it sounded like someone was breaking in.

I quickly got up, grabbed a golf club from my closet and heard a string of curse words and I knew it was Rebekah. The sight of papers scattered on the floor made me wonder who was going to be picking those up.

“Hey, what are you doing?” I questioned stepping over the mess on the floor.

“Perfect timing.” She said, literally throwing a box into my arms.

“What is this stuff?” I asked noticing the weight of the box.

“Mom's stuff for the Historical Society, I just went and got it from their house. I got roped into helping Mrs. Barker and by roped, I mean very thrilled to contribute.”

“Hey!” I turned my head to see Mr. Reed stumbling up the front stairs.

“Zach, I told you to stay in the car.” She said crossing her arms to glare at him.

“He’s drunk?” I asked, noticing him playing with the doorknob.

“A little.”

“It’s not even 6PM.”

“I’m trying to get him home.”

“I’ll start going through this stuff.” I said, getting a better grip on the box.

“You better find interesting things, because we only have until Friday. The party is on Saturday and if I have an angry Mayor’s wife coming after me, I’m skipping town.”

“Wait it’s this Saturday?” She nodded at me, grabbing Zach by his waist and taking him to her car.

Damn I forgot all about that.

I dropped the box in my arms to the ground and ran with the golf club in my hand up to my room to search for my phone.

_To Izzy: You’re still going with me to the Historical Society party right?_


	14. Thursday, Sept. 13th: Dreaming With A Broken Heart

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

I didn’t sleep at all last night because of how uncomfortable I was. Well, that and because I was up until 1AM texting Penner. He wanted to know if I was still going to the party with him this Saturday and I couldn’t think of a reason not to go. I guess if I had to think of one it would be because my face was completely hideous.

No matter how many painkillers I took the agony I was going through didn’t seem to go away. But then I would have flashbacks. Flashbacks of when I knew how to make things painless and it only took around five glasses or just half the bottle. The feeling of complete numbness, being able to turn your mind off made the consequences seem like they weren’t a big deal. On no account can I relapse again, not after everything that I’ve gone through to get sober.

When my alarm clock went off I was wide awake, laying on my back staring at the white ceiling of my room. I reached my hand out to silently turn it off, stretching my arms above my head.

I dreaded looking at myself in the mirror, and I had a good reason to when I turned the bathroom light on. My nose and a little bit of my cheeks were a dark blue and purple, but there wasn’t any more swelling. Brushing my teeth was a challenge because no matter how little movement there was it was like I was being stabbed with needles on my skin.

I was hoping that my parents would let me stay home from school because I couldn’t show up looking like this, looking like I had a procedure done on my face. I looked like a different person. I walked across the driveway and into my house, still wearing my pajamas, making it seem like I was too weak to even change my clothes. But in all honestly if you put the nose pain aside I felt perfectly fine.

Voices from the kitchen gave me the impression that they were already eating breakfast so it was a good opportunity to try out my acting skills. I huffed and sighed when I walked to the freezer to grab an ice pack.

“Isaac, what are you doing?” She asked, giving me a funny look as I threw a bag of frozen carrots on my face.

“My nose hurts.” I whined.

“You're going to be late for school.”

“Do I have to go?”

“Let me get a look at you.” She grabbed the sides of my face in her hands and looked closely at the colors. She reached her hand up to touch it but I quickly swatted it away. “I don’t see why you wouldn’t go to school.”

“Because I am in physical pain and you love me enough to let me stay home because I am suffering—.”

“If you want to miss school it’s up to you, but you have to watch Kitty.” She cut in. Katherine was sitting in her chair eating fruit from a bowl, making occasional noises.

“Why?”

“She’s going to get her ears looked at later today,” A crash came from the stairs and a shoe ended up tumbling to the bottom. “I don’t want her going to daycare because I need her to focus at the doctor’s office.”

“Eh,” I slowly started backing out of the room. “I’ll go get ready for school.”

“That’s what I thought.” I threw the frozen bag into my mother’s hand and went over to examine what was happening on the steps. A little boy appeared with only his right shoe on, leaning down to pick up the other.

“Did you fall down the stairs?” I questioned as he sat down on the bottom step to tie the laces on his sneakers.

“No,” Trey began. “I was trying to carry Simba and my shoes at the same time and Simba scratched me and my shoe fell out of my hand.” He lifted his arm up for me to look at the mark, a little blood was coming out of his skin.

“Ask mom to get you a Band-Aid.” I left him to sit alone while I went to my room to change into my school clothes. Penner would be here in less than 30 minutes and I still needed to shower and style my hair which took around 20 minutes.

I found myself running around trying to find medicine and things I needed for school when my mom shouted out, “Penner is outside!”

“I’m coming!” I came bolting from the upstairs bathroom and down the stairs into the kitchen. I haven’t had anything to eat all morning so I reached across Katherine’s shoulder to grab a piece of toast. “If you don't mind?” I practically scarfed down the bread in one bite

“Hey.” My mom came behind me and jokingly slapped at the back of my head. To my right there was the sound of hissing, which meant Trey was tormenting Simba again. Since Simba ‘ran away’ Trey seemed to be clingier towards the cat, I however still didn’t pay any more attention to him then I already had.

My brother had the dishwasher completely open and the bottom rack all the way out with the cat sitting in the middle. He would roll him in and out, irritating the cat to the point of jumping out and going to hide somewhere.

“Trey, stop putting Simba in the dishwasher.” I demanded before grabbing my bag and heading towards the closing front door. From the window I could see Penner waiting in his car and then behind his car was a much rustier car that Nixon was getting into. I could hear the bass of the music from my front porch as they drove away.

“Green Day.” Penner blurted out when I put my seatbelt on, pulling out of my driveway.

“Huh?”

“That’s the music they were listening to,” His forehead creased when he squinted his eyes looking closely at my colored nose. “Holy shit have you seen your face?” I groaned and buried my head into my lap. I could feel Penner running his hand gently up and down my back as he laughed quietly.

“Is it that bad?” I asked, my voice being mumbled by my jeans.

“Ummmm,” He started. “No?”

“You don’t make me feel better by lying about it.”

“It makes you look like a badass,” I kept my head down. “But you look amazing no matter what and that’s something I cannot lie about,”

I picked my head up, blushing at his words while I looked him out of the corner of my eye. His eyes were still covered by his black Ray Ban sunglasses and it was rare if I ever saw him without them on. “Don’t give me that look.”

“I’m not giving you a look.”

“Oh,” He smirked. “My mistake then,”

I was feeling bold so I reached across his car and took his sunglasses off his face and put them on my own. When I saw myself in the side mirror, the shades covered up a little of the bruises and I turned my head and gave him a large smile.

“You look marvelous in those.” For a moment I thought he was just joking, but when I saw his genuine expression I kept my laughter on the inside

“Yeah?” I grinned. With each compliment he continued to give me, my face became redder and redder.

“Absolutely.” He parked his car in the closest spot to the school and we both got out at the same time.

“So the Historical Society party is in a couple days,” he nodded at me. “Do you know what you’re going to be wearing?”

“I think I depends on what you’re going to be wearing.” He flirted.

“I think you have more options to choose from.”

“Why don’t you come over and try on some of my stuff after school. Rebekah will be there and she can help us look perfect.”

“Yeah that sounds good. I just hope I do you right,” He turned his head to the side and smiled. “I mean do your clothes justice—like your look—the way you wear your clothes—.” I stuttered, trying not to make it sound sexual in anyway.

“Right,” He began laughing. “I don’t think you have to worry about that,” The bell sounded throughout the school and students began going in different directions.

“I’ll see you at lunch?” He asked.

I took his sunglasses off and pinned them to the collar of his black V-neck. “Of course.” He reached a gentle hand up to my tender nose before touching it softly. I slightly flinched and he pulled his finger away, giving me an apologetic smile before I was walking towards my next class.

I took one step into Mr. Taylor’s room and the first thing Morgan said to me was, “What the hell happened to your face?”

With the eyes of all my classmates on me I covered my nose with both my hands and took a seat. “I’ll tell you later.”

(Penner’s P.O.V)

At lunch I was sitting alone for about ten minutes, getting worried because I didn’t know what happened to Isaac. I was going to call him, but before I had the chance I overheard a group talking just a table over, “—the bathroom and his nose was bleeding everywhere. He looked like he was socked in his face by the looks of it I mean you should’ve seen the color of this guy’s nose.”

I grabbed up my belongings and headed towards the nearest bathroom. The sounds of paper towels coming out of the dispenser were echoing in the doorway, but I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to see.

Isaac was standing there with his head pointed to the ceiling, his blue shirt was covered in the front with drops of his own blood and it seemed like the trashcan was overflowing with used paper towels.

As silly as it seemed I didn’t know what to do in situations like this. I was stuck between helping him myself or just running to get the nurse. But then I thought, no one is better off helping him than I am.

“How are you doing Izzy?”

“I’m just fantastic, thank you Penner.” There was a hint of anger in his voice.

“You know what I meant.”

“If you really want to know, I feel like complete shit. I have the worst headache of my damn life, my nose hurts and it won’t stop bleeding, people keep staring at me, my shirt is ruined and on top of that I just ran out of a test that I can’t make up so if you don’t mind I’m going to stand in the corner and wallow in self-pity.”

“I think you are exaggerating just a little.” I smiled at his outrageous words, thinking that he was just joking.

“No I’m not.”

“What class were you in, I’ll go and persuade the teacher.”

“No, I don’t want you to get involved,” He snapped at me. “This is real world where you can’t fix things easily by passing out money or batting your famous eyelashes.” By his last word he took the paper towel off his nose and was staring at me, not caring if more blood dripped onto his shirt.

“I was just going to ask if there was something you could do because this looks like it was an emergency for you to leave the test. You know if you want something in life it’s not going to get handed to you, you’re going to have to play dirty and unfair because that’s the way life is,” I turned to leave, but then when other words came into my head I couldn’t stop them from coming out of my mouth.

“And if I need to give people money or bat my eyelashes at them to get what I want then fine I will because I don’t give up, not unless I’ve done everything humanly possible first.”

(TIME PASS)

That was the last time I talked to Isaac for the rest of the day. It’s not because I was ignoring him, it was because he wouldn’t answer any of my calls or texts. I was asking some of our friends if they saw him, Carly and Maddie last saw him when they were in math together, but Lucas said he was in gym earlier. When I caught glimpse of a familiar face on my way to Mr. Reed’s class I decided to stop him in the hallway and ask if he had seen his brother.

“I haven’t seen Isaac since this morning.”

“Well he’s not answering his phone.” I glanced down just to check and see if he ended up replying.

“Sorry it’s not my job to look after him,” He started. “He’s old enough to make his own decisions so he doesn’t need my help.” Nixon took off down the hall and around the corner when the bell was close to ringing.

I sent him one last text before I was going to leave it up to him.

_To Izzy: I’m worried about you. Text me when you get this._

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

My words were extremely harsh and I couldn’t think of a way to take them back. I wasn’t able to bring myself to apologize to Penner because he said things that were just as cruel.

My phone would get call after call and text after text, but I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and I chose to shut my phone off so I could clear my head.

Chemistry was a little awkward because today was the day Morgan was auditioning for the play after school. She didn’t want Jai to know and it was hard to keep it to myself when Jai and I couldn’t think of anything else to talk about.

Morgan texted me the time and place to meet after her audition. So when I entered the auditorium I could hear the voices of teachers giving directions on how the evening was going to work.

I didn’t enter until they called Morgan’s name up to read her part. She was reading along with Piper Cruz who was one of the biggest drama queens you’ll ever meet. She would get looks in the hallway, but people would just talk about how glad they were that she was graduating this year.

“Next we have Piper Cruz reading for the March Hare, Jason Brewer reading for the Mad Hatter and Morgan Moseley for Alice,” All three students made their way to the stage with the script in there hand. “If you could start at the top of page 19 and begin on my count,” Each of them flipped to the correct page before the director started again, “In 3, 2, 1 Action.”

“Well, I’d hardly finished the first verse, when the Queen jumped up and bawled out, ‘He’s murdering the time! Off with his head!’” Jason started.

“How dreadfully savage!” It was different hearing Morgan with an accent, but I guess her character was supposed to have one if Jason was pulling one off too.

“And ever since that, he won’t do a thing I ask! It’s always six o’clock now.”

“Is that the reason so—so many tea-things are put out here?” She did her best to memorize the line while the other spoke, but sometimes she would look back down just to make she got it right.

“It’s always tea-time, and we’ve no time to wash the things between whiles.”

“Then you keep moving round, I suppose?” Her accent faltered slightly, but I was hoping that no one recognized it.

“Exactly so, as the things get used up.”

“I vote the young lady tells us a story.” Piper finally spoke.

“I’m afraid I don’t know one.”

“Then the Dormouse shall! Wake up, Dormouse!” Jason and Piper shouted at the same time.

“Cut!” The director shouted. “Thank you, that will be all for today. I will have roles posted Monday morning.”

Morgan passed her script back to a stage-hand and went to the seat that I was occupying. “My palms are sweaty.”

“I thought that was amazing. Where did you learn to do an accent like that?” I asked.

“Penner used to have relatives come in from Leeds all the time when he was younger. I must have just naturally caught on.”

“Now all you can do is wait and see.”

“I don’t think I’ll get it,” She wiped her hands on her jeans. “Piper auditions for every role, usually getting the lead.”

“I think it will be a mistake if they don’t give you the part.”

She snorted and gave me a soft smile. “Thanks for not telling Jai. I really appreciate it.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“I will, hopefully soon,” She took in a deep breath. “It’s 4:30 PM already, I have to meet my mom at the diner. She said she hired a new guy and she needs my help showing him the ropes.”

“Good luck with that.” I laughed.

“Thanks for being here for me, you really helped me out today.”

“Anything for a friend.”

(Penner’s P.O.V)

It’s been four hours—close to five and I still didn’t hear anything back from Isaac. Just a simple text would be nice, just to know that I didn’t make him angry. So when I called him again for what seemed like the 157th time that day, it went straight to voicemail.

“Hey Isaac, what’s up?” I sighed. “Where are you? Uh— give me a call when you get this.”

“How is Isaac? I like that guy, he has a lot of passion.” Rebekah said walking in with a stack of washcloths in her hands.

“I don’t know, he won’t answer my calls.”

“Guy problems?”

“Nope, no problems,” She gave me a look. “I’m not telling you anything.” I clutched my phone tighter in my hand and went up to my room. Not even ten minutes later was my phone ringing with the name  _Izzy_  lighting up on the screen.

“Hello?”

“Penn I’m going to start talking and don’t interrupt me okay?”

“Okay.”

“I’m really sorry about what I said earlier. I was being a dick to you for no reason and you don’t deserve that—from me or anybody. I wasn’t ignoring you—well maybe I was, but I shut my phone off. I needed to get my head together.”

“Yeah it took you all night, too.” I blankly said. I wanted to accept his apology, but he didn’t reply to me all day and he blew off coming over to hang out.

“Penn?”

“It’s okay we can try on stuff tomorrow right?”

“Shit,” He groaned. “I completely forgot I was just so distracted.”

“By what?” I was trying to get my voice to calm down, to relieve some of the anger that I obviously had bottled up inside of me.

“I can’t say.”

“You can’t say?” I just wanted him to come out and say what it was he was trying to keep from me. Maybe he didn’t want to be friends anymore because I did have the money and my stupid famous eyelashes to bat at people if I did want anything. “If you didn’t want to hang out you—.”

“No, no I did—do it’s just—,” I could hear him taking in a deep breath. “Morgan auditioned for the school play and she didn’t want Jai to know about it.”

“Do I look like Jai?” I asked rhetorically. “Why does she want to hide it, I think that is really cool that she’s finally stepping up and doing it.”

“I don’t know, but you have to promise me you’re not going to say anything.”

“I’m not going to say a word,” This is what started the awkward silence and I couldn’t take it anymore. I just wanted to hear his voice to make sure that he was okay, but there was still a little tension. “I’m meeting Rebekah for dinner so I will pick you up tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure,” He mumbled. “Penn, I’m really sorry if I made you mad.”

“Isaac I’m over it, honestly I’m not mad at you I swear.”

“Okay that’s good. I’ll just see you tomorrow morning then.”

“I’ll be waiting,” I smiled, my personality becoming less hateful. “Bye Izzy.”

“Bye Penn.”

I pressed the end button, but I could see a shadow from under the door. I fiercely opened the door and my sister grabbed onto both sides of the wall and acted like she didn’t do anything.

“Okay, well um you can,” She stuttered. “You can pick out dinner tonight.”


	15. Friday, Sept. 14th: I'm Living On Such Sweet Nothing

(Penner’s P.O.V)

I met Isaac in the library after school, just like he wanted me to. Although I wasn’t any good at Spanish, I might as well take every opportunity to spend as much time with Isaac as I could. I spotted his familiar back pack leaning up against the bottom of the very last bookcase on the right.

I smiled and started walking over, but the closer I got the louder I could hear the sound a pages being ripped. I saw them piling up on the floor and I leaned up against the bookcase without Isaac knowing I was there.

“Why couldn’t you take Russian? I know that it took me almost three years to become fluent, but you’ll have a better hope of someone else helping you with Spanish,” I joked, but got no response from him. He had his head buried in a Spanish- English dictionary and was scribbling down words that I didn’t understand.

“Hello, were you listening?” I moved my head to examine if he was ignoring me, but a white chord was plugged into his phone that stretched up to his ears. I could see his foot tapping out of the corner of my eye.

“Oh okay, I’ll just sit here and have a conversation with myself. Because you know I’m standing right here wanting to talk to you and you’re sitting there listening to music not hearing a word that I’m saying.”

He just continued to flip through his Spanish book, writing down sentences, but not looking up at me. Then in an instant a thought popped into my head. If I was going to ask him to my boyfriend tomorrow at the Historical Society party I might as well practice right? Besides, Rico always taught me that if you practice before you perform, you won’t be nervous when it’s time for the real thing.

“So I’m going to take this chance to tell you how I feel,” I took a deep breath. “I accidentally found you in a cemetery and you just happened to be this amazing part in my life, better than what Tyson ever made me believe,” Isaac was now tapping his pen on his knee while bobbing his head along to the beat, clearly oblivious to any words I was saying.

“I can’t help but feel like you have mutual feelings towards me and I would give up almost anything to call you mine.” He stretched his arms back and his knuckles hit my leg slightly, making him jump. He ripped his headphones out and glanced up to see who was standing there.

“Penn, hey,” He smiled at me. “How long have you been standing there?”

“I just got here,” I lied. “You know your nose looks significantly better than from when I saw it at lunch. It doesn’t look as blue.” I took his chin in my hands to get a closer look at his face.

“Yeah?” The pitch of his voice went up.

“Yeah.”

“Vas a ayudarme con mi Español?” He grinned.

“ты только оскорблять меня?” I laughed, fighting back with the language he didn’t understand.

“What the hell just came out of your mouth?” His jaw was hanging on the ground.

“Did I never mention I was fluent in Russian?”

“I don’t think that vital piece of information was ever shared with me.”

“Hmm, it must have slipped my mind.” I winked.

“What did you say?” He asked eagerly, grabbing my hand and pulling me down so I could to sit next to him. He adjusted his posture as he waited for me to answer.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I asked if you would help me with my Spanish.”

“Well I asked if you insulted me.”

“I couldn’t even if I wanted to,” I smiled looking down at my fingers. “Will you say something else?” He moved his books to the side and scooted closer to me, our shoulders overlapping.

“Maybe some other time,” I breathed. “I don’t really like speaking it unless I’m talking to someone who actually is Russian. People give weird looks because they think I have a multiple personality.”

“Oh, yeah I can understand that,” He nodded then paused. I think Isaac and I were the only ones in the library on a Friday after school, it was a strange feeling being alone but you had the freedom to talk about whatever you wanted. “You better be glad that I like you, otherwise I would ditch you for another tutor who actually knows Spanish.” He leaned up to grab his books to continue working on his homework.

So what does that mean “you better be glad that I like you”? Does that mean he actually does _like_ me or is he saying the “I like you because you’re my friend”?

After about five minutes I pulled out my headphones and pulled them into ears and started playing music while I watched him do his homework. I think he saw me fidgeting around to untangle the chord and his focus was no longer on his studies. He took his right hand and reached across my face to gently pull out my left ear bud.

“What are you listening to?” He asked, plugging it into his own left ear. I was a little self-conscious to show him the kind of music I listened to because music can describe a person without them actually telling you who they are. Take Isaac for example, he loved Coldplay and I would describe their music as being very original and beautiful.

And in my eyes that defined Isaac very well.

“I don’t know this group,” He took my phone out my lap and checked to see what was playing. “ _First_ _Light_ by _My Morning Jacket_ , that’s a very interesting name, but the sound is amazing,” He said turning it up a couple dials. “It sounds like it has a lot of character.”

“You’re good a describing music, yeah?”

“Nah, I don’t think so,” He blushed, looking through my playlist. “You have a lot of character and are very optimistic, kinda like the music you listen to.” All of the sudden the song changed halfway through and it was obvious what he switched it to.

“You’re so predictable,” I smiled playfully hitting his arm. “ _Violet Hill_ is one of my favorites.” I turned my eyes towards him, and he was a lot closer to me than I thought considering that our thighs were touching.

“Yeah.” He whispered back, scanning his eyes all over my face. He opened his mouth to continue on but my phone started ringing loudly, which didn’t matter if it bothered anyone because we were alone.

_From BOONE: We have a problem._

What was that supposed to mean? Well, obviously that could mean anything like he’s having problems with Elsie or something a lot worse like someone has died. I was just hoping that it wasn’t too serious. I instantly typed back a message, not really comprehending what I just read.

_To BOONE: What do you mean?_

“Hey Penn, my mom said I gotta get home.”

“Is everything okay?” I mumbled.

“Yeah,” I gulped, looking down at Boone’s reply. “Everything’s great.”

(Morgan’s P.O.V)

“What is that stuff?” My dad asked, watching me dust off and polish family artefacts.

“On Wednesday I got it from the safe security box. I went to Mrs. Watson’s shop yesterday to give her the box for the display tomorrow at the party.”

“Oh yeah, Mom told Caroline she would lend it to the founder's council for their heritage presentation,” I nodded in agreement as he moved closer to examine the small pieces. “Is that Grandma Hilda's wedding ring?

“First it was great-grandma Violet's wedding ring.”

“How much do you think this stuff is worth?” Grayson said walking into the living room. “You know, like on eBay?”

“You're not gonna find out.” I slapped my brother’s leg when he went in to reach for the antiques. My dad’s phone began to ring and I assumed it was work calling him again.

“You can't just give it away.” Grayson finished.

“I'm not giving it away it's called a loan, Grayson.” He didn’t reply when he heading around the corner and into his room.

“Morgan it’s for you.” My dad said handing his phone over to me.

“Hello?” I asked cautiously.

“Morgan, honey it’s Caroline.”

“Hi, Mrs. Watson.”

“I can’t find your grandmother’s hair pin.” She said flatly.

“What do you mean?”

“When you gave me the box yesterday it wasn’t there.”

“Are you sure, because I saw it.”

“Yes I’m very sure.”

“Let me check.” I offered.

“Oh please bring it as soon as possible.”

“Mm-hmm, I will find it and bring it.” I started my way to Grayson’s room

“Thank you darling.”

“Ok, bye.” I gave my dad his phone back and barged into my brother’s room. He was playing a video game on his computer and I smacked his headphones from his head

“Ahh!” He yelled when I ripped his headset from his ears. “You just bounced me back to level six!” He said pointing at the screen.

“Great-grandma Edith’s hair pin, where is it?” I asked sternly.

“What hair pin?” He asked with a blank stare.

“The one you stole from dad's box,” He blinked at me. “Look, Mrs. Watson just called me in hysterics. It was on the list for the event tomorrow and she can't find it so she thinks she's the one who lost it.

“Maybe she did, maybe Penner took it.”

“Don't even play that card Grayson, I know you took it. Am I going to find it online? Is that how you buy your drugs?”

“Screw you,” He pushed past me and cleaned out his laundry hamper onto the floor, pulling out the ring that was secured in a velvet box. “I would never sell this, okay?”

“Then why did you take it?” I questioned after he shoved it into my hands. I opened the box making sure that it was there, but the emerald stone looked like it had just been recently shined.

“Because it's supposed to be Harper’s. Mom said it goes to the firstborn daughter when they turn 20. Grandma gave it to mom and now what, Mrs. Watson can give it to Rebekah?” firstborn

“Mom never gave it to her?”

“It’s been three years.”

“Look, Gray, it's still hers, ok? Just because she moved out doesn’t mean she doesn’t get it.”

“She doesn’t give a damn about us so I doubt she gives a damn about Edith’s pin.” He turned back to his game, playing with the buttons on the controller.

“Mom promised Mrs. Watson what do you want me to do?”

“Just take it and get out.”

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

“So I was thinking that I need to take you to school next week. You know just as like a ‘thank you’ for all of the things you’ve done for me and I know how much gas costs because that stuff is not cheap—.”

“If I say ‘yes’ will you breathe,” I nodded and inhaled deeply. “I think you have a watcher.” Penner said pointing up to the large front window. You could see Trey’s face peeking at us through the curtains.

“I should go.”

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 5PM.”

“But we just discussed—.”

“You said school, not a party,” I simply rolled my eyes at him. “I’ll text you later.”

“I’ll be waiting,” I flirted back, grabbing my bag and walking through my front door. “What’s going on?”

“Daddy has been waiting for you.” He followed behind me as I came into the kitchen see both of my parents sitting down at the table.

“You're here.” My mom let out a breath.

“You're late.” My dad greeted.

“Get changed because we're going out, there’s stuff we need to talk about.”

“Do we have to?” I asked hoping they would say no.

“What do you mean, do we have to?” My dad spit. Even I knew my dad and he wasn’t this snippy, so obviously they had something they needed to talk about. Something they weren’t happy about.

“You used to love doing things with the family.”

“It only took me 17 years to realize how annoying you all could be.” I glanced back to Trey who was still behind me, obviously not paying any attention to the conversation. I honestly thought that he was a little scared until I got home, maybe that’s why he seems a little attached all of the sudden.

“Isaac, don't start, not tonight.” My mom pleaded.

“Okay,” I sighed. “Where are we going then?”

“The diner, I finally want to try some lobster if none of you mind.”

“Whatever you want mom.”

(TIME PASS)

It’s just my luck that my family would get the table right smack-dab in the middle of the restaurant. And if there’s anything I know about my family is that they are more embarrassing in public then they are at home.

Nixon would have his phone out and then my dad would tell him to put it away, but then five minutes later he would have it out again. It was a constant battle. Trey still never left my side, he even wanted me to take him to the bathroom which I found a little weird.

Katherine was trying to put together an extra-large ten piece puzzle that my mom brought with her. She thinks that Kitty needs to improve her coordination skills and stimulate her mind, or something along those lines.

“So what are wanting to talk about? You clearly wanted to talk about something.” I started, after our food and drinks were ordered.

“I think your dad can say it better then I can.”

“Next week I’m needed in Lincoln for work and your mom is coming with me.”

“Okay,” I said playing with the fork in my hand. “Isn’t Lincoln like three hours from here?”

“We’re talking about Lincoln, Nebraska dear.” The fork clinked loudly on the table as it fell out of my hands.

“Wait, wait a minute,” I said looking down and taking a deep breath. I noticed that Nixon was now sitting up straighter and paying a closer attention to the discussion. “You’re going back home and you’re not taking me or any of us,” I gestured to my siblings who sat around the table. “I’m the one who gave you every reason in the book not to leave in the first place.”

“Izzy we’re going just for business.” My mom said calmly, but I could feel my temper rising and rising.

“It doesn’t seem like it to me. Don’t you think that I would want to see my friends, see Emmett after all this time?”

“I want to see my friends, too.” Nixon piped up.

“You will not be going with us, I’m sorry. You can’t miss a week of school just to have a vacation—.”

“Have you ever stopped to ask if I liked it here or not?” I asked cutting my mom off. The entire conversation didn’t even involve my dad and he was the whole reason that they were leaving in the first place.

“Well you’re bringing Penner over almost every night without permission and skipping out on family time every day to go be with friends. I think that says it all right there,” My mom’s voice was getting a little louder as well. When I assumed everyone had calmed down my dad of all people chimed in.

“There’s something we need you to do for us while we’re gone.”

“Let me just guess.”

“We need you to be in charge until we get back.”

“No way,” I shook my head fiercely back and forth. “I’m not going to babysit—.”

“Did we ask if you were going to or not? You’re going to be at school and home to look after your family until we get back. That means no parties, no study sessions and no leaving the house unless it is an emergency.” I sat and continued to listen to my dad strictly give directions to Nixon and I.

I guess my parents assumed that Katherine and Trey would do whatever we told them to, but if they actually paid any attention like real parents they would know that they are very sneaky children.

I found that it was pointless to try and argue any longer, but some of the things my parents weren’t letting me do were a little outrageous. Like I wasn’t allowed to have friends over because Kitty might get scared and hide. Are they expecting Katherine to be kept at home for the rest of her life because she is deaf? How is she ever going to get to know the world around her if she can’t meet different people?

When Morgan’s brother Grayson passed by my waiter, Wesley “Wes” Hughes, the best wide receiver on the football team stopped him abruptly. I didn’t turn my head to the chat, but my ears were definitely on them.

“I need you to switch zones with me.”

“Why?”

“Maddie and Lucas just sat in mine.”

“So?”

“So, I don't feel like waiting on my ex-girlfriend.”

Wes and Maddie used to date? That was a shocker considering that they were polar opposites. Wes was the jock of the school and Maddie could be found in art class with paint on her shirt and clay underneath her fingernails.

“Okay,” Wes said setting down the huge tray of food on the table next to ours. “Who ordered the lobster?”

(Lucas’s P.O.V)

It was obvious that I— well we were getting strange looks because we have been hanging out a lot lately. But Maddie asked if I wanted to go to dinner and what was I going to say? Sorry I can’t because I’m afraid that people are thinking that you and I are dating? Hell, I wasn’t afraid of anything.

“Something’s up with your mother.” She started.

“What do you mean?”

“When I came over yesterday for English help she just kept eyeing me.”

“Hey guys.” Grayson said, popping around to our table in the back.

“Did Wes make you switch zones?" Morgan's brother simply shrugged his shoulders. "He thinks we're dating.” She pointed out.

“That would explain why my mom was looking at you yesterday.”

“Well aren’t you dating?” Grayson asked with no interest in his voice.

“What?” Maddie chocked on her water.

“We're together all the time, it's not a stretch.”

“That's crazy.”

“Just yell for me when you’re done gabbing.” He said before he got annoyed and went to serve other tables. We sat for a while without much to talk about, just about school and what not until Maddie started up again.

“I’m actually not that hungry,” She said closing her menu. “What about you?”

“Nah me either,” I lied, leaning back in my chair, slouching just a little bit. “Hey, there’s Jai and Morgan.” I pointed over to the door, seeing my best friend walking in with his girlfriend. Jai and I made eye contact and he led Morgan by her hand over to our table.

“Maddie will you join me in the bathroom?” Morgan asked nicely, letting Maddie follow behind her to the restroom.

“What’s up man?” Jai asked shaking my hand and sitting across from me.

“Everyone thinks I’m dating Maddie.” I admitted.

“Wait, did you ask Maddie to go with you tomorrow?”

“I asked Stella Cruz.”

“Stella is your date?”

“Hey, just because she’s a year younger doesn’t mean anything,” Jai’s blank expression on his face didn’t change at all. “Plus she’s better than her sister.”

“Better at what exactly?”

“It's been kinda slow in that department,” I blushed. “And— I am horny all the time now!” I said just a little too loudly. The lady sitting in the booth behind us turned around to look at us.

“Yeah, tell me about it, sometimes I feel like I’m gonna blowup.”

“Just like I can't turn it off.”

“Yeah,” I saw Maddie’s red hair coming back with Morgan and Jai stood up, letting Maddie have her chair back. “Well umm, I hope you'll get umm— lucky tomorrow.” He took Morgan to their own table and I led Maddie out of the restaurant and called it a night, driving her home with an empty stomach.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

After we got home I didn’t bother going into the house, but Trey was still following me until I reached the door to my room.

“Trey, you’ve been doing this all night.”

“You’re the only one who hasn’t made me go away.” Those words hurt. That meant that Nixon, my mom and dad didn’t want to deal with him. And he wasn’t something you just dealt with and went along with the rest of your life. I think he’s the one everyone always forgets about because he is such a good kid, never getting into trouble or starting fights.

“Oh, umm maybe no one else wanted to play.”

“I didn’t want to play,” He shook his head. “I wanted to tell them about the bird’s nest at school.” It was only 6PM so I decided that he could come into my room. I would just have to talk to Penner after I was done.

“Okay you can tell me.” I let him sit down on the couch and he just observed everything that was in my room.

“I’ve never been in here before.” Trey said, going over to look outside the window that looked over the driveway.

“Yeah, yeah I guess it’s pretty cool, but Trey what about those birds at school.”

“It’s so sad what they did to them.” He came back over to sit down

“What do you mean?”

“Some girl told Mrs. Wayne that there were birds and then the next day when we went outside to play,” My brother began to sob, small tears were flowing down his red cheeks. “They weren’t there anymore.” I gathered Trey into a hug as he cried into my shirt, his shoulders shaking.

“I’m sure that they just put their nest back in a tree,” He didn’t reply, he just continued to sniffle. “I think if you went and played with Simba it will take your mind off of it.” I offered.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He stood up without another word. I could hear his footsteps going down the stairs. I watched him from my window as he crossed the driveway onto the path to the front door.

I sighed to myself and checked my phone and I had two missed calls from Penner. I clicked on his name and my phone began to dial his number. He picked up on the third ring and I flatly said, “Welcome to the catastrophic universe that is my miserable life.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s that bad.”

“I'll give you three reasons why.”

“Okay, shoot.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Number one, my parents are from the 19th century. Number two, they hate that I have a life because they know that theirs are basically over and mine's just beginning. Number three, my entire family is crazy,” I could hear him scoff into the phone. “Simba will need even more psychotherapy than me.”

“I think you need to worry more about Nixon then you do with an eight year old cat.”

“And if home isn't bad enough, I have to spend all day at school.”

“I think you’re being a little dramatic,” He said genuinely. “Besides I like going to school, I get to see you every day.” I could hear the flirt in his voice.

“Yeah I don’t think it’s that bad,” I agreed. “My mom got me something to wear for tomorrow.”

“Hmm, I’m a little nervous that you’re going to look better than me.”

“I don’t think I could do that.” I denied, picturing Penner in a suit. “Did you know the Maddie and Wes used to date?”

“No I didn’t know that,” He said honestly. “It must’ve happened when I was gone.”

“When are you going to tell me about your ‘other’ life?” I asked.

“I think you’ll just have to get lucky one of these days. It will happened when you least expect it.”

“I can’t wait.” I joked.

“Hey, I gotta go Rebekah just got back and she’s a little, well uh—tipsy.”

“Is she still chasing after Mr. Reed?”

“Yeah, but it’s weird calling him Zach.”

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow then?”

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” He ended without a goodbye.

As every minute passed I just kept thinking about what tomorrow was bringing. But I couldn’t help but be scared as to what Penner was going to say to me. I just didn’t know how to tell him that I heard everything he said. He had no clue I heard his entire confession. 


	16. Saturday, Sept. 15th: In My Dreams It's Me & You

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

“Mom can you stop making such a fuss about this, it’s not a date.” No matter how many times I said it wasn’t a date, the more I secretly hoped it was.

“I’m sure it’s not.” She winked, looking at the window to see if Penner had arrived.

I had been getting ready for the past two hours, but my mom wouldn’t leave me alone all morning. She was always looking at my face to make sure I didn’t have any pimples coming in, not to mention she smeared Chap Stick on my lips twice which always caught me off guard.

“Aren’t you and dad going?” I asked.

“I couldn’t find a baby sitter for Trey and Kitty, but I need to start packing. I don’t think that we would’ve missed much anyway.”

“Why do you say that?”

“They’re just showing pieces from each of the founding families, something that this family is not. Everyone is going to get together to rehash the memories and the tradition that has been passed down from their ancestors.”

“I don’t know it just sounds like something you would be into,” I shrugged. “And I thought you would want to torture dad by dragging him along.”

“Hmm,” She pondered, but then laughed. “I’m sure there will be other events even more agonizing than this.”

The sound of a car door came from outside and my mom practically started hoping up and down.

“Mom if you actually care about me you will leave.” My palms began to sweat because now there wasn’t any way I could back out now. And tonight I knew exactly what Penner’s plan was, but I don’t think I’m prepared for it at all.

“Izzy please—.”

“Mom, I’m not getting married, I’m not going to war. It’s just two friends—one of them happening to be from the founding families—going to a party so we can be a part of society.” I frantically spit out before a string of knocks were on the door. I gave her a serious look and she started pouting, but ended up leaving me alone with Penner waiting at the door.

I took in a deep breath and opened the door slowly. “Wow,” I breathed. His hands were tucked in the pockets of his pants and his chin was down to the ground, but his eyes weren’t covered by his sunglasses for once. They were looking into mine. “You look very well-dressed.” I smiled.

“You look,” He paused, scanning my body with his eyes. “Very handsome. Are you sure you still want to do this?

“Sometimes you have to let your desires overtake your morals and live life to the fullest.” I smiled, remembering our conversation from a couple nights ago.

“Hmm,” He said nodding his head. “Who gave you that ghastly advice?” He asked.

“Some guy said it once or twice.”

“Right.”

“Shall we?” I asked as he led me out the door and to his car.

(Rebekah’s P.O.V)

I arrived first at the Mayor’s house along with other members of the founding families. I was asked to help set up the Watson family display with all of the items that Penner and I found, including an old pocket knife and harmonica with the engraved letters of H.R.W.

When the guests began arriving the more I realized how small Camden actually is. I saw Trevor from the gas station, Lorelai and her son Frank from the barber shop and old man Donny from the drug store.

But one familiar un-wrinkly face stood out to me the most.

“Lovely to meet you,” Zach said shaking the hand of Kelsey Barker. “I've been looking forward to this party for quite a while.”

“Well, enjoy.” She said, pointing her hand into the main room.

“Zach,” I said walking up to him. “I wouldn’t have been able to guess that you would be here.”

“Hey, look at you.”

“I figured I'd stand out less if I dressed up.” I joked.

“Liar.”

“Okay, I'm a sucker for the historical society party,” I blushed. “They even do a Founder’s day ball.”

“Oh, can't wait,” He grinned. “Can I get you a drink? I hear the punch is real badass.”

“How would you know you just got here?”

“A little liquid courage makes any kind of punch badass.”

“Hmm,” I began chewing on the inside of my cheek. “Well you see that man over there, with the badge?” I asked, pointing to the man talking to Jackson Barker.

“Okay?”

“Yeah that’s the Sherriff and the woman you just met, that’s the mayor’s wife. I think I’ll pass on liquid courage and try to act like I have a little self-control.” I finished when I spotted Penner and Isaac talking in another room.

I felt like I snapped a little hard on Zach, but to be honest I’ve only ever talked to him when he was completely smashed and it seemed like an everyday thing. I just wanted to have a sober conversation with him and not worry about him saying or doing the wrong thing to a lady who looked at him wrong. I couldn’t begin to imagine what would happen if he started beating up old man Donny.

(Morgan’s P.O.V)

I arrived to the party with Jai on my arm, but as soon as we got to the front door of his house his parents were waiting there greeting each and every guest.

“Morgan!” Kelsey said, gripping me in a tight hug. “You look marvelous.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Barker.” I replied politely.

“Oh, well, come on in.”

“You really do look marvelous.” Jai pecked my left cheek and I turned my head hiding my blush, when I saw my dad in uniform standing alone.

“Wait here?” I asked, leaving Jai to stand alone.

“Really,” I weaved through groups of people. “You couldn't even change out of the badge for this?” I asked my dad quietly.

“I'm working, honey,” He sighed. “Who's the date you just tried to sneak past me?”

“If you paid attention you would know that was Jai,” who I’ve been dating for over a year.”

“He's a little old for you, don't you think?”

“He’s the same age as me.” Some people think that having your parents completely leave you alone and not get involved in your life is a good thing, but my dad was so oblivious, I was surprised he even knows my own name. It’s never a good thing to be ignored by your parents, no matter how great you think that is.

“Where's your brother?” He asked.

“Outside.”

“Good.”

“With Hannah.” I smirked walking away. If it wasn’t obvious enough, my dad didn’t really care much for Hannah. He claimed that she was a bad influence on Grayson, but he didn’t know that Grayson was the one who corrupted her.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

“Was that your grandfather’s?” Isaac asked examining the watch that belonged to my family.

“Wow,” I breathed, touching it lightly with my fingers. “I used to sit on my grandpa’s lap when I was about eight, and he would talk about being in the War and how his watch was a symbol of his beating heart,” I grinned at the memory. “He said that if his watch ever stopped ticking he knew he was about to die.”

“What happened to him?” Isaac’s asked, his eyes glued to my face.

“He died from liver failure when I was 13.”

“Oh,” Isaac gasped. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t make him an alcoholic,” I noticed Isaac sucked in a breath. “There's a lot of ancient history here.” I ended, following Isaac who moved onto the next part.

“ _The founding families in Camden greets you to the introductory founder's council celebration_. Wow, look, it's the original guest archive,” Isaac read out loud. “Look at all these familiar names—Joseph Moseley, Minerva Conrad,” He paused. “Henry Watson? Was that your grandfather?”

“Our ancestor, I would assume.” Rebekah announced, coming up behind the both of us.

“We don't need to bore them with stories of the past.”

“It's not boring, Penner. I'd love to hear more about your family.”

“Oh well if that’s interesting to you, I should tell you that Penner and I found old artefacts that had the initial H.R.W. Henry Watson could be the H and the W,” My sister rambled on. “If only I knew what the R meant.”

“You could probably find it in the founder’s documents.” I tried to get her to leave that way I could spend alone time with Isaac, but something made me believe that she was doing this on purpose to make me suffer.

“Who are the founder’s anyway?” Isaac chimed in.

“The Conrad’s, Rooney’s, Moseley’s, Watson’s, and Hughes’s.” Rebekah answered.

“So that’s Maddie Conrad, Morgan Moseley and I know that you’re the Watson’s, but who are the Rooney’s and the Hughes’s?” Isaac questioned.

“Dean and Crystal Rooney,” I began. “Dean was one of the best athlete’s at school before he graduated. Now he’s a drinker who hangs out most nights at the diner. I don’t know that much about Crystal, but you might have met them and just not known who they were.” I explained.

“And the Hughes’s?”

“Wes Hughes is another one of our football players. He doesn’t really care about the whole Camden history, I don’t think he even knows he is from a founding family,” I laughed, but when voices echoed from the doorway I froze, listening in on the conversation.

“Izzy, do you want to go see the lake?” I asked, wanting to get out of the house.

“Of course.” He smiled.

I only caught a few words here and there from the entryway, but I got all the information I needed thanks to Mayor Barker. My parents just arrived.

(Hannah’s P.O.V)

At first when I showed up Grayson was walking me around to see who showed up, mainly just to make fun of them, but he would never take me around his parents. Instead he took me to the old shed in the middle of the woods behind my house. The shed is where we would smoke and drink the summer nights away and no one would know we were even there.

“Do you want to dance?” I asked.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Maybe I should just get the ounce from under your bed and ask if Sherriff Moseley wants a hit,” I said becoming extremely sarcastic. “I mean, that's why we're hiding in a corner all night, isn't it? You're scared of how I'm going to act? Are you afraid of what your parents are going to think?”

“I don't care about what they think.”

“Great,” I stood up. “Let's go say hi.”

“Knock it off, Hannah.”

“Or we could just, you know, sneak up to your bedroom, as long as nobody sees us right?” I questioned.

“Hannah, I swear.”

“What's wrong, Gray? You scared to stand up to your daddy? It's really pathetic.” I almost shouted, getting up and leaving Grayson to sit alone.

(Rebekah’s P.O.V)

When Penner left in a rush I knew what he was avoiding—I knew who he was avoiding. I only saw my mother which made me wonder where my dad went off to, but I confronted her up front.

“You know that Penner won’t want you here.” I started off with.

“I’m sorry he feels that way, you both need to give it time.”

“I’ve been waiting,” I spit. “I’ve given you all the time in the world and you say that you’ve reached out to Penner, but you’ve only pushed him away.”

“Rebekah—.” She tried.

“No, mom. I’ve been on your side this entire time, I’ve been patient while you try to understand that what Tyson did to Penner was wrong. But now after all this time I know that your opinion is never going to change.”

“Rebekah, it all takes time.” She repeated again.

I turned my head to take a deep breath fearing that our relationships are going to turn out to be even worse than they already are, but I will always wonder why I saw Isaac talking with my father.

(Maddie’s P.O.V)

I stood in the corner by myself most of the night because Carly ditched me for gas station Sam so I ended up watching Stella practically dry hump Lucas in front of everyone. It’s hard for me to explain, but when you see someone having fun without you it makes you like them even more because you want to be having fun with them. And I had trouble admitting that I missed having fun with Lucas

“Since when are they together?” Wes asked walking up beside me, shifting his head in their direction.

“I thought you were ignoring me?”

“I'm not ignoring you.”

“You only said five words to me all summer, and those were four of them.” I pointed out.

“Maybe because every time I’ve seen you, you’ve been with him.” Wes said, throwing his hand in Lucas’s direction

“Because he's my friend!” I exclaimed. “Which is what I thought you were,” I paused as he started staring off into space. “What is wrong with you?”

“I don't know, I'm out of it—I guess, sorry.”

“What was that about?” Lucas asked walking up to the pair of us.

“Nothing.” I spit out.

“Great party Maddie!” Stella said a little too loudly.

“Isn’t it? You should probably leave it.” I mumbled under my breath

“What the hell?” Lucas mumbled close to my ear.

“Well, I'm bored,” Stella blurted out. “I want to dance and Lucas won't dance with me.”

“Nope, I won’t.”

“Could I just steal your date?” Stella asked, latching onto Wes’s arm.

“Oh, I’m not with him.” I said scooting away from Wes,

“I don't really dance.” Wes admitted.

“Well sorry, but I'm not going to take no for an answer.” Stella said smiling as she dragged Wes out with a bunch of old people.

“What a great date,” I said sarcastically. “I don’t think you could’ve made a better choice.”

“I don’t understand why you’re so pissed off,” Lucas said, coming to stand in front of me. “Remember Jai’s swim hole party a while back?”

“What about it?”

“You turned me down so you need to stop being so jealous and get a life of your own.” He stormed out of the room, most likely leaving altogether.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

Penner decided that we would play a type of 20 questions, only a shorter version. We found out little fun facts about each other, but they only made me like him even more. As the sun began to set and the stars came out I knew that Penner was going to ask the most important question of all.

“If I ask you to dance, does that count as a question?” I asked, when we were alone by the lake.

“There's no music.” He smiled.

“So?”

“AII out of questions?” Penner asked. There was one question that I’ve been dying to ask him, but I didn’t know when the right time to ask. I guess now is just as good as any other.

“Do you believe in love at first sight?”

“I'II let you know,” I could see a slight blush on his face, even though there was a glare coming off of the lake. “You've got one more question left.” He warned.

“Okay,” I bit on my lip. “Do you feel like you made the right choice coming with me here tonight?”

“I do,” He put a hand on my elbow before sliding it all the way down my arm, grabbing onto my hand.  “And do you ever wanna see me again after tonight?” I looked back in his direction and I could tell he was trying to read me. To figure out what it was I was talking about.

“I'd have to think about that.” Before I had a chance to blink he stepped quickly in front of me, so close I didn’t think there was any more room between us. He grabbed my other hand into his own and intertwined them together.

“Did you feel that too?”

“What? That nauseous feeling?” 

“It's like butterflies.” He explained.

“I thought that was me trying not to throw up,” Penner laughed at my statement. “I’ve never felt that before.”

“My mom always said when I met the right person, I'd feel butterflies.”

“I think I'm ready, but I'm a little guarded.” 

“I guess it's because you don’t want to get hurt,” He paused looking into my eyes. “I'll never hurt you,” He finished taking an even closer step towards me, his taller frame seemed to tower over me more than usual. By natural instinct in me being a dumbass, I take a step backwards away from him to regain my balance.

“I-Isaac. I uh—I didn’t mean to—I just.” He said loosening his grip on my hands.

“No don’t,” I gripped onto his hands tighter so he couldn’t move away. “I—you just caught me off guard and it was my natural reaction to step back. I just—I have no idea what I’m doing around you.” I stated before my face got beat red and I turned my face away from his gaze.

We stood in silence for what seemed like nine trillion years but only turned out to be two seconds and when everything was still and Penner didn’t tighten his grip back onto my hands, I slipped them away and back to my sides.

Surprisingly he moved his hands in sync with mine not wanting the touch to break. He slid his hands up my arms to tightly wrap them around my neck. Taken by shock I circled my own arms around his waist pulling his as close to me as I could.

“Not now.” Penner blurted out, pulling away and reaching into his pocket.

“What?” I asked when he stared at his phone.

“I've gotta go.” He said with a little hurry in his voice.

“Are you okay? Is it curfew or something?”

“Something like that,” He calmed his tone and grabbed onto my hand one last time. “This has been an amazing night.” He whispered, finally placing a kiss on my cheek. My eyes closed and my face grew hot, but when I opened my eyes he was gone.

 (Nixon’s P.O.V)

“Where's your date?” I asked when Grayson walked in the back door all alone. He texted me asking me to come make the party fun and I wasn’t doing anything. Grayson is my friend he knew how to have a good time.

“Who knows?” He grabbed onto my shirt and dragged me into a room that was much less crowded. “But I've already been yelled at once so I was hoping you'd help me out.”

“And spit right in the face of adult rules,” He nodded. “I'm in.” I smiled, following Grayson down to the lake.

(Isaac’s P.O.V- One Hour Earlier)

Penner just led me down to the lake and he wanted to play 20 questions and before we got to question four I had to excuse myself to use the restroom after I drank practically half of the punch supply.

After I finished my business I saw Rebekah talking with a man that I didn’t recognize, but when I saw Jai searching through the snacks on the tables I decided to tap him on the shoulder.

“Jai.”

“Whoa,” He said almost spilling his drink. “Holy shit don’t sneak up on people like that.”

“Sorry, but I have a question,” I turned to the man and asked. “Who is the guy talking to Rebekah?”

“That’s Ryan Watson, her dad.”

“Is that Penner’s dad too?”

“Yeah.” He simply answered.

“I’m gunna go talk to him.”

“Be careful.” Jai warned.

“Why he’s just a person?” I slowly questioned.

“He can be,” He paused thinking of the word. “Intimidating.

“How bad can he be?”

“He can put words in your mouth and make you say or believe things that aren’t true.”

“Seriously?” My jaw dropped. I turned back to the pair and Rebekah had disappeared, but Ryan was sitting instead of standing with a drink in his hand.

“No joke.”

“Thanks for the tip,” I finished, making my way over to Penner’s father. “Mr. Watson?” I interrupted quietly.

“You must be Isaac.”

“Yes, sir,” I froze. “May I sit down?”

“Please, sit by all means.” He gave me a soft small, but his eyes stared me down.

“This place is amazing.” I started off with.

“It's a little tacky for my taste,” He spat. “I see why my son's so infatuated. It's about time because for a while there I never thought he'd get over the other one,” He swirled his ice around in his glass. “It nearly ruined him.”

“The other one?”

“Yeah, Tyson, his boyfriend?” Finally Tyson was revealed. After all the mystery and wonder I could now understand why Penner would want to keep it hidden from me.

“He brought up something about Tyson, but he never said much about him.”

“Oh, you two haven't had the uncomfortable exes talk yet.”

“Nope.”

“Whoops well, I'm sure it'll come up now.” He laughed.

“Most likely.”

“Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound,” I looked to the floor, biting on my lip. “We all know how those relationships end.”

“You say it like every relationship is destined to end.”

“I'm a pessimist,” He finished off his drink with one last gulp. “I’m going to get a refill, but it was nice meeting you Isaac.

(PRESENT)

After Penner left I noticed that Grayson was up to something, always looking over his shoulder and acting sketchy so I hunted Morgan down to see if she knew anything about it.

“Have you seen what your brother has been up to?”

“No, I have been too busy with yours.”

“Since when is Nixon here?”

“I don’t know, but look what he’s doing now.”

She pointed her finger out of the back window and I saw that Nixon was stripping and jumping into the lake. The guests all turned their heads and I stormed down the hill to retrieve my brother.

“Nixon what the hell are you doing?” I shouted.

“Oh, hi.”

“Are you completely out of your mind?”

“Maybe.”

“Stop with the one worded answers and get out of the water.”

“No.” He smirked, dunking his head under the water and swimming away. I turned to Morgan who was staring in shock. “I’m sorry Morgan, but I’m going home. I can’t be around him or any of the stupid things that he is going to be doing later.”

 (Penner’s P.O.V)

“You realize that you ruined everything right?” I began fighting with my dad as he tried to leave.

“I’m just trying to protect you.”

“Protect me!” I shouted. “If you wanted to protect me you should’ve done that when Tyson was around. Isaac is no harm to me or anyone else, I don’t know how could you talk to him? Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” I yelled after him.

“It’s gonna be okay, I promise.”

“Dad!” I screamed as he got in his car and left me staring down the road as he drove away.


	17. Sunday, Sept. 16th: Careful Where You Stand

(Penner’s P.O.V)

A few nights ago Boone texted me telling me that there was a problem. To me it was an ongoing problem because new pictures of me kept popping up every day. Pictures of me sitting in class, driving around town— pictures that smelled of paparazzi. But then I would see pictures of Isaac and me together, which means that I would be in the headlines any day now.

My band’s management team was clear that I couldn’t be involved in a relationship without their consent, but Boone and the boys always had my back when it came to stuff like that. They were very controlling over not just me but with Rico, Zander and Boone. We were very limited on what we could and couldn’t do.

But I was beginning to worry about where the pictures were coming from. I didn’t notice anyone following me around, fans and paparazzi couldn’t find Camden if they tried. I now realized that I have to be more careful now since Isaac is coming over to my house for dinner tonight.

(Isaac’s P.O.V) 

Well I wouldn’t say last night was the best night I’ve ever had. I was left to walk two miles home after Penner mysteriously left in the middle of the party. And when I got home my dad practically interrogated me about my night. He asked why no one took me home and I told him that Penner had to leave because of an emergency. It must have been a family crisis for him just to go running off like that, especially since he’s the one who asked me to the Historical Society party in the first place.

_From Penner: Come over to my place for dinner?_

A grin came on my face and I typed back a reply quickly.

_To Penner: I guess I could fit that in my schedule._

He responded with his address and a smiley face. If he wanted me to come over, I was going to get all the answers to every question I was asking, even if they answers were scary.

“Isaac,” My mom called from the front door. I got up from my spot at the breakfast bar to see her standing at the closet with wet clothes at her feet. “Whose wet clothes are these?”

“Umm,” I cleared my throat. “They’re Nixon’s.” I mumbled.

“Why are they drenched?” She questioned, picking them up and wiping down the spot with a towel.

“You wanna know why?” I asked rhetorically, anger filling me up all of the sudden. I began to grow tired of covering for my brother all the time. I snapped and words just began flooding out of my mouth. “Nixon went to the party last night. He snuck out of the house and swam in the Barker’s lake.” I confessed, hoping my brother didn’t hear me when his footsteps could be heard on the stairs.

He walked into the living room, still in his pajamas and flicked on the TV, turning it on Jimmy Neutron. The sound of the TV got Trey’s attention from the kitchen and he came rushing in, but I caught him by the shirt and held him back. My mom gave me one last look before going over towards Nixon, ripping the remote from his hand, turning the cartoon off and throwing the wet pile in his lap.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” She simply asked.

“You see about that—.” He started. I could feel Trey trying to put in hand in my own.

This was the bad thing about being me was I now felt guilt for telling my mom what stupid thing Nixon did last night. I felt like I broke every promise we shared together, every guy code rule was shattered because of my anger towards his childishness.

“Mom—.” I tried.

“Go get your dad.” Was all she said, not looking at me.

I took Trey upstairs to where my dad was helping Katherine get ready. He fled towards his room and closed the door behind him. “Mom wants you downstairs.”

“Can you finish here?” He asked, leaving the room. I nodded and pulled her small socks out of the drawer, trying to put them on her ticklish feet. She traced her finger along the flowers of her shirt and I waved a finger in front of her face to get her attention.

“ **You like flowers?** ” She nodded as I slipped her shoes on. “ **Let’s go outside and pick some**.” I signed, being able to hear the raised voices coming from downstairs.

I knocked on Trey’s door to inform him that we were going outside and he quickly followed behind, not liking the loudness throughout the house. I slipped the two of them through the living room without bringing attention to ourselves, through the kitchen and out the sliding door in the back.

Trey grabbed Kitty’s hand and led her around the back yard, picking at the yellow weeds in the yard, mistaking them for flowers. After ten minutes or so, Katherine came back to the deck and gave me all the “flowers” in her hand. I took them out of her hand and she ran back to Trey, who now had a box that was being filled to the top.

I was starting to wonder how long it was going to take for my parents to talk to Nixon, but then I realized that they were going to be gone for an entire week starting tomorrow. How was I going to be able to control what Nixon did or didn’t do? It’s not like he listened to me in the first place, let alone when he’s completely pissed that I betrayed him. How am I going to get Trey to and from practice when I have to look after Katherine and take pick her up after school?

How was I going to survive the next week alone?

After 20 minutes I called for Trey to get Katherine and come back inside. The house was dead silent and my mom was in the kitchen cleaning up the dishes from breakfast.

“So what happened?”

“He’s grounded until we get back, then we’ll decide what other actions need to be taken,” She sighed. “Has he been acting different to you? He’s still doing well in school like always, but he’s never done a stunt like this.”

“N-no I haven’t noticed anything,” I lied, not wanting to get my brother into any more trouble. “Mom this might be a bad time, but I got asked to go over to a friend’s house for dinner.”

“Which friend? Is it Penner?” She questioned.

“Umm no, it’s actually Jai.” I lied again. I knew that my mom wouldn’t want me going over to Penner’s and they’ve become friends with Jai’s parents and I think that they trusted them enough that my parents knew they were a good influence.

“I guess that’s okay. Tell his parents we say ‘hello’.” I nodded and went to go to my room. Outside, Nixon was listening to my dad about how to take care of the yard. How to cut the grass, pick the weeds and take care of the flowers. I would guess that is part of his punishment by the look he gave me as I walked by.

I took out my phone and dialed Jai to tell him the plan for tonight, hoping that he would play along.

“Isn’t that kinda risky?” He asked.

“I’m going to say I’m over at yours when I’m actually at Penner’s, what’s so confusing about that?”

“What if your parents ask mine how the night went?”

“Damn, well just butt in the conversation and tell them yourself. Everything’s going to work out fine.” I reassured.

“It better because my ass is on the line.” He finished, hanging up. Now all I had to do was wait for 5PM to roll around.

(TIME PASS)

I tried my best to look well dressed, but not look like I was trying too hard. What you wear going over to your crush’s house can define if it will be a good or bad night. Don’t look like a slob, but don’t dress like you’re going to meet the Queen.

I followed Penner’s directions and it led me directly into town along Main Street. None of the rows of apartment buildings matched, which made it easy to find which one belonged to Penner. The whole face of his house was gray brick with a black door which I found to fit his style, easy on the eye, but sleek and stylish at the same time.

I wiped my nervous hands on my pants before knocking on the door, having Penner open it not five seconds later.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you since last Tuesday,” He joked, bringing me inside by the hand. His place was top to bottom vintage, not a surprise in the least. He had a lot of movie and music memorabilia hanging on the walls that intrigued me. It was good to know that he and I both shared the same taste and interests. “So what do you think?”

“This is a really cool place.” I spoke truthfully, going over to the fireplace where there was an autographed picture of the Jonas Brothers.

“That’s Rebekah’s I swear,” He laughed. “She was a crazy fan-girl back in 2007.”

“Where is Rebekah?”

“She went out with Za— Mr. Reed.”

I didn’t know what to say. I just wanted to continue exploring to see what else I could find. He took me to his room, where he said his most prized possessions were kept. Things like and autographed guitar from Elvis Presley and a picture of him and his band with Elton John at The Grammy’s. Not to mention the many awards that were on shelves after shelves.

“You are living my life.” I whispered to myself.

“What do you mean?” He asked, obviously hearing my statement.

“Oh well— I just really enjoy music and travel and that’s your entire life. I think that’s incredible.”

“I’ll have to show you sometime.” He offered.

“Penn, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” He grinned.

“Have you changed?” His face twisted up at the question but answered anyway.

“When I was 13 I began to notice my voice changing which then led—.”

“No, no, no not like that,” I stopped him. “Last week I talked to Jai and he told me not to be your friend because you changed who you were because you joined your band. Is that true?” I asked softly. When I saw that he was struggling to answer I jumped back in. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, it’s okay,” He sighed. “I would be lying if I said I haven’t changed on the inside. I’ve become a stronger person, someone who appreciates the things he has and doesn’t take things for granted. I like the person I am today, then the kid I was all those years ago.”

“So you didn’t abandon your friends here for your other life?” I asked.

“Are they really saying things like that about me?”

I nodded. “I wanted to ask you for myself before I just assumed the worst.” I explained.

“I appreciate that,” He breathed. “Let’s go have dinner.” He smiled, leading me back downstairs and into the kitchen. The chairs at the table didn’t match, but the appliances were all stainless steel. I found the combination very original and had a lot of creativity.

He dished out plain old lasagna with iced tea and a side salad with breadsticks. We talked about things we’ve done over the summer, his stories much more interesting than my summer job at Buffalo Wild Wings.

“So about last night—.” I started, as he began to clean up the table. I offered to help, but he declined saying how I was a guest in his house.

“I’m sorry about leaving like that. Rebekah called and told me that my parents were dealing with something and I had to go and take care of it.”

“Is everything okay now?” I wondered.

“Yeah, everything got itself worked out,” I nodded, not wanting to continue the conversation. I didn’t like how there was always bits and pieces of the story missing. I understand that it’s a family matter, but if there is something I can do it fix it then I want to know what it is.

“Izzy, come here.” Penner poked his head from around the corner after excusing himself to go to the restroom. I got up from my place at the table and made my way in front of him.

“Whoa!” I gasped as he took me by the elbow and dragged me into a dark room. “Penner, what is happening?”

“Don't worry, don't worry.”

“Where are we going?” He began taking me by the hand up a set of stairs, seeming like they were going on forever. Although I wasn’t able to see anything, Penner gave me the impression that he knew the exact way.

Before I knew it the door busted open at the top and we were on the top of his apartment watching out over the city. “Look.”

“Wow!” I stood breathless in the doorway before taking bold steps out across the deck and over to the ledge where Penner was standing.

“Pretty cool, huh?” He mumbled, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of the view in front of me. The main street lights glowed to and from the ocean and I could feel the vibrations coming from The Rat a mile away. “I’m sorry about yesterday.”

“You seem to spend a lot of time saying you’re sorry.”  I put my chin to my chest.

“Well I have a lot to apologize for,” He started. “Yesterday wasn’t about you, you know that right?”

“You never told me anything about your dad.” I blurted out.

“We’re not close it’s—it’s complex.” He explained clearing his throat.

“Always,” I paused. “He did tell me about your ex, Tyson.”

“What did he say?” He pounced.

“He broke your heart.” I turned my eyes to look at his face. Talking about exes was always a sensitive topic, but everyone around me seemed to know something about their past connection.

“That was a long time ago.” He explained softly.

“When you lose someone it stays with you, forever reminding you how simple it is to get hurt.” I turned my gaze away from him and back and the scenery in front of me.

When someone says that they’ve moved on from a relationship they’re lying, at least in one way or another. There’s always a thought about them in the back of your mind that’s recapping all the good and bad that happened during that time.

Thoughts lead to doubt.

“Isaac?” He tried getting my attention.

“It’s okay Penn I get it, you have no clue how much I get it,” I began. “You have a complicated family, complicated ex, complicated life. It’s all too complicated to even consider dating,” I took a breath. “We met and we talked, which was epic but— Penner, promise me something.”

“Anything.” He smiled.

“Promise me that while you’re here, however long that may be, promise me that we'll find adventures,” I declared, but his facial expression didn’t change. He just continued to look at me. “All right—I mean, do anything that we want to do.” I calmed, trying not to sound as pushy as I recently had.

“Yeah I—I know you're right.” He reassured.

“Hmm.”

“You and me?” Penner joked. I slapped him on the arm lightly, laughing, but he looked at me and took my hand, rubbing his thumb into the back of it. “Adventures?” He slipped his arms around my waist, resting his forehead against mine.

I found myself trusting Penner more and more with each honest answer he would give me about topics that weren’t easy to talk about. So when I didn’t move away when he moved his body closer, that’s when I knew I could trust him fully.

“Deal?” I asked, tracing my hands up Penner’s arms to span his strong shoulders. He smiled at my response and takes another breath before fitting his chest against mine, sucking lightly at my bottom lip. When his fingers brushed against my skin where my shirt had ridden up, I thought I was going to burst into flames. His soft lips sucked gently at my bow-shaped top lip, but I took advantage and nipped at Penner’s lower lip with my sharp bottom teeth.

“Deal,” He panted, breaking away from the kiss, keeping his chest touching my own. I could feel his breath hitting my cheek as his nose nuzzled against my own. “You use scented soap, huh?” He whispered.

I chuckled, tightening my grip on his arms, soaking in the perfect moment between the two of us. He reached his lips to peck at mine without warning, a small grin was starting to show on my face.

“What was that for?”

“I just really like kissing you.” He admitted, leaning in to kiss me again. As soon as I closed my eyes a bright spot light shined on the both of us and my eyes snapped open.

“It’s okay, look,” He said pointing off in the distance. The lighthouse light that stood along the bay just switched on, giving warning to all boats of the shore line.

“What time is it?” I questioned when I noticed how dark it had gotten.

“It’s after 8PM.”

“Crap, I have to get home.” I grabbed onto Penner’s cheeks and pecked his lips twice, pulling back to see a smile on his face.

“I don’t think I’ll get used to that,” He murmured, taking my hand in his and leading me back down the stairs before pausing at the front door. “I wish you could stay longer.” He handed me my jacket from the closet.

“I’ll see you in less than 12 hours,” I smiled, putting on my coat. Penner took the opportunity to put is arms around my neck to bring ourselves closer together. “I think you can wait that long, right?” I mumbled jokingly, placing my arms on his hips. He hummed before closing the small space and putting his lips on my own. Each and every time this happened I thought my lungs were going to blow up inside my ribs.

I pulled back and looked at him through my lashes. “I’ll pick you up in the morning, okay?”

“I’ll be waiting,” He stole another kiss from me unexpectedly. “In this very spot.” He tried again to press our lips together, but I cut him off with the palm of my hand.

“You can kiss me all you want tomorrow, but I must go.” I gave him an apologetic smile and left his house, following the lights on the path all the way to my car.

(TIME PASS)

I drove all the way home with a smile on my face, signing loudly to whatever song came on the radio. I felt like I was on top of the world, that I couldn’t possibly feel happier than at this moment.

But as soon as I walked through the front door my mom was waiting for me in the living room.

“Oh good, Izzy you’re back.”

“Why, what’s going on?” I asked, the smile leaving my face.

“Well I just wanted to tell you about the things I learned about Penner today.”

“And why would I have any interest in that?” I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I got all of my information from his mother, and dear you really need to hear this. I don’t want you getting into something that could get you hurt.”

“Okay,” I huffed, sitting down on the couch. None of my siblings were present, and that made the house extra quiet in the silence. “What is the big secret?”

“I went down to Caroline’s today, you know she is a very kind woman, and she told me she saw you and her son together last night at the party and she wanted me to tell you about what happened between him and Tyson.”

“Wait, how is it that you know more about this Tyson guy than I do?”

“It’s my job to protect you,” Her voice being gentle after my tone was rather harsh. “The truth is very disturbing so I’m just warning you in advance.”

“Tell me.” I begged.

“I don’t know how to start,” She bit her lip and cleared her throat. “A couple years ago Penner and Tyson dated for a while, they were very close and very private as a couple. But one day Penner snapped and became—aggressive towards Tyson.”

“How do you mean?” I questioned.

“There would be times where he would lash out at him—.”

“Are you telling me that Penner was being abusive to Tyson?” I nearly shouted.

“Don’t raise your voice, your sister is asleep,” She warned. “Caroline said Tyson told her himself, that he lied about the whole thing.”

“What whole thing?”

“The whole story about Tyson raping Penner,” My eyes began to water, but I stood up and started shaking my head in disagreement. I felt like I wasn’t getting enough air, I became light headed and gripped onto the arm of the recliner. “See this is what I was afraid of. Don’t get upset over this, Izzy.”

“Upset!” I shouted, not caring if I woke up everyone on the block.

“You need to sit down and relax—.”

“Re—relax, you want me to relax a-after you told me that Penner was raped—you want me to relax—I’m n-not going to r-r-relax—.” Tears began pouring onto my cheeks and I ripped the front door open and ran across the yard and into my room, falling on my bed to cry into my pillow.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I sniffed before wiping my eyes with my jacket sleeve and reading the text message.

_From Penner: I miss you_

A wet smile came on my face and a small laugh escaped my lips as I sniffed again.

I didn’t believe my mom. I didn’t believe her or Caroline or anyone that tried to tell me different. The ones who lie about being raped do it because they don’t want to get put in jail for it. He made up the story about Penner being abusive so Penn looked like the bad guy and not Tyson.

That has to be the truth.


	18. Monday, Sept. 17th: Born In This World As It All Falls Apart

(Isaac's P.O.V)

I laid in bed awake, watching my room get brighter as my alarm began to sound. The amount of sleep I got was bare considering the thoughts that were rattling around in my head. Penner was the one who I could trust to tell me the truth, I wasn’t going to fully believe it unless he told me it was true himself. But then again I want to just push it aside to see if it will blow over, if I will somehow forget.

The lights were on low when I entered the front door of the house. Although I could hear my parents clinking around items in the kitchen.

“Oh Izzy,” My mom started. “I left lists of important numbers and contacts. I even made a list of what’s for dinner every night and I already went and bought everything at the store. Trey has practice every night, so don’t forget about that. Nixon is grounded so don’t forget that either—,”

“Mom it’s not going to be that hard. I’ve looked after them plenty of times before this.” I reassured.

“I know, but I’m just making sure you know what’s going on,” She breathed. “We’re going to drop Kitty off so she knows we didn’t leave her behind.”

“I’m going to go get ready then.” I mumbled, going up to my room once again to shower and change into my clothes for the day.

When I styled my hair and settled on a shirt and a pair of pants, my parents car was gone and I was officially in charge for the entire week.

But when my youngest brother was sitting alone at the kitchen table eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes, I knew that we were the only ones left in the house.

“Did Nixon leave?” I questioned.

“He left with his friends and their loud music,” He muttered. “But mommy left you this.” He waved an envelope in his small hand at me. I reached towards him to open it, but I found a note and a credit card.

The note read:

_Izzy,_

_This is just in case of emergencies like doctor visits, food, etc. We love you!_

_Mom & Dad_

I immediately stuck the card inside my wallet and gathered up Trey’s empty bowl.

“C’mon bud, we have to go pick someone up before I take you off to school.”

(TIME PASS)

I would’ve thought that Penner was waiting for me to show up for over an hour because he was out of the door as fast as lightning. He opened the passenger door and put his book bag on floor, but when he leaned in for a kiss I cleared my throat and moved my eyes back to my brother.

“This is Trey, right?” He questioned, trying to back away casually.

“Yeah, I need to drop him off at school first,” I explained, pulling out on to the road. “I hope that’s okay?”

“Of course,” He said smiling, looking back at my brother. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

I looked at Trey through the rearview mirror to find him examining Penner. “Trey this is Penner.” I introduced.

“He has your ears.” Penner pointed out.

“I have my own ears and Izzy has his own ears.” Trey spoke innocently, touching his ears.

“You do have your own ears,” I agreed. “But what he meant was that my ears and your ears look the same.”

“Oh well that’s good.”

“Why’s that?” I asked, glancing at Penner out of the corner out of my eye. He was fully turned around in his seat looking at my brother.

“Because I wanna be just like you.” He said truthfully, but Penner turned his head and gave me a soft smile. I found a parking spot across the street from his elementary school and put the car in park.

“You ready Trey?” I grabbed his back pack and helped him out of the back seat.

“Where are you going?” Penner asked.

“I have to walk him up to the gate,” I clarified. “I’ll be right back.”

I grabbed Trey’s hand to walk him across the road, but I could feel Penner looking at the both of us from my car. Trey gave me a hug before yelling at his friend Matt with the comic books.

“You’re that kid’s idol.” Penner said when I got back to the car.

“What?” I asked, driving five blocks down the road to the high school.

“He looks up to you, he even said he wants to be just like you,” He latched both hands around my right bicep. “It’s sweet.”

“If you say so.” I murmured, finding a parking spot. I scooted as far in my seat as possible so I could wrap my arms around the side of Penner’s neck, my nose resting on his cheekbones.

“Are you okay?” He asked because of my sudden action. I simply nodded and skimmed my nose smoothly across his gentle skin, his infamous sunglasses still placed on his face. “I’m sorry about e-earlier—,” He stuttered as I began pecking kiss after kiss along his jawline. “I—I didn’t know that your—your brother was—.” I could feel a soft moan leave his throat as my lips trailed down his cheeks to his exposed collar.

“Class,” He spit out. “We’ve got to go to class.” He put his hands on both of my cheeks, pulling me back up to face him.

“Fine.” I pouted. He snorted, but kissed my lips one last time before opening the door on his side of my car. I think we were in a silent agreement on keeping the PDA to a minimum. He knew I didn’t want attention drawn to myself and I didn’t want more attention on him either. Plus I wasn’t sure if he was comfortable telling everyone yet that he and I were together.

“I need to go to the office and pick up a form. I’ll be right back.” He took off in the opposite direction. But as I watched him walk away I saw a familiar girl standing alone by the trophy cases.

“So when are you going to find out if you got the part?” I blurted out from behind her. Morgan jumped slightly, but sighed in relief when she turned around and saw it was just me.

“She said she would post it this morning, but I looked and nothing was there,” She explained. “I’ll check again after school.”

“What are you going to do if Jai sees it and your name is on the list?” I asked.

“Shit,” She cursed. “I have to go talk to the director before she posts it all over the whole freaking school.” She exaggerated. I laughed under my breath as she stormed towards the theatre office.

“Where was she going?” Jai asked, coming up to me.

“Oh u-uh,” I stuttered. “She had to get something from her locker.”

“Her locker is that way.” He pointed in the opposite direction.

“Well don’t look at me,” I sweated. “I’m not a girl.”

“She’s been acting kinda weird lately, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know, I mean you know her better than I do.”

“Yeah I suppose,” He sighed. “Maybe I’m just too busy and think she’s the problem.” Before he could get too in depth with the topic the first hour warning bell rang.

“Well I’ll see you in class.” I smiled, heading in the direction of my first class.

“See ya later.” He muttered.

I didn’t realize Penner snuck up behind me until both of his hands squeezed my waist in the middle of the hallway.

“Do you enjoy scaring me?” I joked.

“It’s not my favorite thing in the world, but it sure is funny.” His smile went all the way to his eyes. I noticed the hall getting emptier and emptier, not to mention people still staring at Penner like he was on fire.

“What is the form for?” I questioned.

“I’ll tell you later, it’s something I need to tell you when we’re not at school.”

“Okay,” I gulped. “I need to get to class.”

“Don’t stress about it,” He pecked my cheek. “It’s not that bad.”

(TIME PASS)

I informed Penner that I wasn’t going to be at lunch during 3rd hour. I wasn’t able to stay after school for extra help so the only other time was during lunch. Penner texted back a sad face along with an ‘I’ll miss you’.

Even though most people in my class understood quadratic functions, I found them to be a pain in the ass. Even Nixon was more advanced in his classes, which made me feel like I was slacking. It wasn’t my fault I couldn’t retain information as well as my brother.

When the bell for the lunch period ended I was excused to head to my next class, but none of the students filled the hallways yet. There was just one student who was sitting on the ground outside my class.

“Penner?” I gasped, seeing him on the floor with his head against the wall. A large grin came on his face when he looked at me and I couldn’t help but blush.

“What?” He asked, standing up.

“Have you been waiting for me this whole time?”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been doing,” He offered a bag of Doritos to me. I didn’t want to accept, but when my stomach said yes I gratefully took them. “I figured you’d need food considering you missed lunch.”

I stuffed about four chips in my mouth at once, chewed them up and replied. “But didn’t you eat?”

“I’ve learned to control my hunger,” He reached down to pick his book bag off the floor. “It’s amazing how long you can go without eating if you’re being pushed from place to place all the time.”

“That’s unhealthy, going without something you need.”

“Just finish those,” He took one step away, but then took two to place a kiss on my cheek filled with food. “I gotta go to class.” He finished, biting his lip as he looked at me over his shoulder.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

When 6th hour rolled around I was nervous to find out the score on my extra credit paper. Zach took the weekend to grade and look it over, probably because Rebekah was ignoring him after what happened at the party on Saturday.

I silently walked up to his desk after class ended and he threw my essay on the table.

“Surprised?” He laughed. I reached down to take the grease stained paper in my hand. There was a large red “A” circled by my name. “It's a good essay,” He began. “Your thoughts are clear, and your argument is well laid out. It's speculation, but artistic, which is why you got the ‘A’.”

“This is great,” I breathed. “I worked really hard on this.”

“Just don’t get caught up in the whole theory of it all.” He smiled, reaching out to take the paper back.

“I won’t.” I promised, turning to leave and head to my next class.

I was weaving through the students when I heard a familiar laugh from behind me. I turned and saw Isaac walking with Jai, and my first reaction was to go to him, but hollers came from students as they tried to get past me. I waited for Isaac in an empty corner in the hallway and when he saw me I saw his eyes light up.

“Hey, Penn.” Isaac winked.

“How’s your day going, babe?” I asked, latching on the pet name. With that Jai left us to be alone.

“I keep thinking about what it is you’re going to tell me.” He whispered.

“I told you it isn’t a big deal.” I gently rubbed my hand up and down his arm.

“Then why can’t you tell me now?”

“How about this,” I offered. “You come over for dinner tonight, Rebekah will be gone and it will be just me and you.”

I noticed he tried fighting back a smile by biting his lip. “My parents are gone for the week and I’m in charge.”

“Wait,” I picked up his hand and started playing with his fingers. “I can’t see you for a full week?”

“You see me at school all the time.” He tried.

“It’s not good enough.” I pouted.

“I’ll work something out.” He kissed my hand quickly before rushing down the hall to his next class.

(TIME PASS)

“So I figured since you and Trey seemed to have hit it off that you wouldn’t mind coming over to meet Katherine either.”

“Hmm,” I debated. “So it’s like meeting the parents, but your parents aren’t going to be there.”

“If you want to look at it like that,” He smiled. “It’s sandwich night, it’s nothing fancy like a date should be.”

“A date, huh?”

“I—I mean well—just forget it.” He blushed, tripping over his words trying to make sense of them.

“If you want—.”

“Penn, please just let it go.” He whined. I grinned at how childish he was being, but I didn’t press on anymore.

“So, what’s so special about this sandwich night?”

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

I knew that Penner was coming over tonight, I mean I’m the one who invited him in the first place. It slapped me in the face every time I looked at the clock. Don’t get me wrong I was _so_ excited for this, but I didn’t know how Penner would react to my family considering that they were all psychotic.

There wasn’t anything to worry about. He’s only coming over to hang out in a house that was way below his standards and not to mention a house full of kids running around. Oh hell, look at how messy this place is, he’ll dump me and we haven’t been going out for more than a day yet. I better go clean that up before—.

5:32 PM. I had 28 minutes to think about all the possible things that could make this go wrong. What if he doesn’t like the dinner we were having? Or what if there is an earthquake and we all die? Okay, I realize that seemed a little unlikely to happen.

I was lost in my thoughts when I heard a knock on the door.

“I got it!” I shouted, taking a deep breath and opening the door. The perfect person on the planet was standing on my porch wearing a leather jacket that showed his grey hood sticking out from the back.

“Am I not dressed well enough?” He asked timidly, running his hands over his shirt.

“No, no of course not. You look amazing.” I replied quickly.

“Well then are you going to invite me in or are you going to keep drooling over yourself?” He shot back at me. I stepped aside and let him come through the entryway.

He removed his jacket that revealed a plain black v- neck shirt that accented his muscle toned body. He quickly threw his jacket on the sofa and turned to wrap his arms tight around my neck. I circled my arms around his waist and pulled him in closer so there was no gap between our bodies.

“Tattoos?” I asked.

“I hope they don’t bother you.”

“Not one bit.” I said truthfully, they were actually a turn on.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw some movement by the doorway leading into the kitchen. Katherine was peeking her head around to shyly take a glance at Penner and I.

I released my hold from around his waist and turned to face her just as Penner did the same. He smiled towards me and then made his way over to my baby sister who just stared up at him, her puppy dog brown eyes glistening in the light.

“You must be Katherine,” Penner said kneeling down to her shorter level. Of how much I talk about my family, especially Katherine, I probably shouldn’t have forgot to mention the fact she was deaf in our previous conversations. Katherine backed up slowly before turning and running away down the hall, probably to find my brother.

“Aww, she’s so shy.” Penner whispered coming back to me, cupping his hands around my neck. I felt so embarrassed that I haven’t told him yet and it’s not like I was telling him that I was dying or that I was an undercover cop or anything.

“Do you wanna go to my room?” I ask breaking the semi- awkward silence. One of his eyebrows raised as a smile came upon his face.

“I would’ve guessed that was going to happen at least after dinner.” He joked as I took one of his hands from around my neck and lead him outside. I took him up the stairs and he let go of one of my hands, turning the knob to open my door.

“Well— um—yeah.” I whispered dropping his hand to walk across the room to turn on more lights. I spun back around to see him studying me and I quickly adverted my eyes anywhere else in the room landing them on my bed. I thought it would be better to sit and be awkward then to stand and suffer so I walked over to my bed quietly and sat down, laying my back on the soft fabric.

Before I knew it he was laying on the bed next to me, not leaving any space next in between us. I felt his eyes burning into the side of my face and when I refused to turn my head to make eye contact he climbed and sat right on top of my hips. He leaned down and put his elbows on both sides of my faces and he rested his chin in his hands. I don’t know what it is about him but he makes me very nervous when he’s around.

Not the kind of nervous where I’m afraid he’s going to do something to hurt me, but the kind of nervous where I’m afraid I’ll do something stupid in front of him. And this feeling takes over my body and I can’t control when I blush and want to hide. This happens to me all the time especially when he looks into my eyes. I tried to turn my head to hide in his elbow but he wouldn’t let me move.

“Why are you so insecure about everything you do?” He whispered playing with my hair. I shrugged at him while biting my lip.

“Oh you don’t know do you?” He joked as I smiled as I shook my head back and forth, still chewing on my lip. “It can’t be because of your gorgeous looks or your charm,” He laughed playfully. Then all of the sudden his face got gentle. “Or because of how kind you are or how selfless, warm and caring you are.” With each compliment my face became hotter and hotter and redder and redder and I hated that about myself.

“Penn, I have to tell you something,” I said quietly. This is it. I’m actually going to do it.

“Earlier when you thought that Katherine was being shy well— um she wasn’t–- exactly being shy at all,” I struggled to get the words out. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that she is well— deaf.” I mumbled out softly, forcing myself to take my eyes away. His eyes had sadness brewing up inside of them almost to the point of them getting watery.

“She is?” He breathed out. “Izz—I’m sorry, Rebekah never told me—.”

“I didn’t expect her to,” I reassured. “Do you want to go make dinner, I’ll even let you meet her.” I joked, getting up from the bed and leading him back into the house.

“Alright we have roast beef, turkey, and ham. What do you want?” I asked, opening the fridge and throwing out all the supplies onto the counter.

“Let’s do the works,” he smiled. “Pile it high.”

“Okay, I like your style.” I joked, pulling out several plates. “Will you grab the bread for me?”

“Sure,” He replied, walking over to the pantry. I reached into the fridge to get a tomato for Trey because likes them on his sandwich. But when I started cutting slices, I slashed my fingers by accident. I yelped in pain and grabbed a towel to soak up the blood. “What are you doing?” Penner asked, returning with the bread.

My skin stung when the towel came into contact and I tried biting my lip to ease the pain.

“It’s just a cut.” I mumbled. He walked around the island to try and get a better look.

“Let me see,” He pressed when I pulled my hand back. The towel began to get drenched in blood. “Izzy let me see if it’s deep.” He continued, putting a hand on my hip to pull me in. the warmth of his hand felt numb against my cold fingertips.

“Damn,” He whispered, taking my hand in his like he was holding glass. “Are you feeling dizzy or lightheaded?” He questioned.

To be honest I felt okay besides the pain in my hand. But the more I thought about it the worse I felt.

“Just let me clean it up.”

“This isn’t minor, look at how much blood there is.” He pointed out. I took the towel off and all that was there was dried blood and a small cut.

“How does it look?” He asked as I turned back to face him.

“It look like just a scratch, barely even that.” I explained trying to get a better look. Penner called at Trey to get the first aid kit from the bathroom, moving at lightning speed to get the bandage on my hand.

“Are you happy now?” I laughed. “I’m no longer broken.”

“That could’ve been really serious and you’re joking about.” He took his focus away from me and began laying out slices of bread onto five different colored plates.

“Penner,” I whispered from behind him. “I didn’t realize it was such a big deal—.”

“It’s a huge deal if you’re hurt, even if it is just a cut.”

“But I’m okay now,” I offered, wrapping my arms around his waist. “And it’s all because of you.” I smiled, resting my cheek against his back. I was able to feel his muscles relax and his breathing slowing down.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked, not turning around.

“I’m positive,” I grinned. “I’ll go get everyone.”

Nixon came downstairs and threw—literally threw his sandwich together before bolting back up to his room. While I made Kitty her favorite plain ham sandwich, everyone got a spot at the table.

I took my seat next to Penner and Katherine who sat across from Trey. Penner reached with his left hand to grab at my right, seeming to be a little nervous as well. When the awkward silence became too much I cleared my throat and began.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

When Isaac began moving his hands in ways I didn’t understand I began to grow confused, but then he told me what he said.

“I asked if she said bye to our mom and dad,” His eyes still on the small girl as she too moved her hands. “She wants to know who you are.” Again, they continued to move their hands in strange ways.

“What did you say?” I questioned when Katherine had sounds coming from her mouth.

“I told her that you were Penner, a close friend of mine,” Her eyes were on me, but as I took my hand to wave at her Isaac jumped in. “This is how you say ‘nice to meet you’.” He slowly showed me the sign for that and I didn’t my best to make it identical, but I found it harder than it looked.

“Did you have fun with Matt at school?” Isaac changed the subject.

“Matt is so funny.” Trey admitted a little too loudly.

“Who’s Matt?” I asked.

“He’s Trey’s new friend.”

“He lets me read his comic books and he helps me with my basketball during recess.” The boy was now sitting on the edge of his chair. Nixon entered the kitchen without a sound, but gave me a look with his eyes as he put his plate in the sink.

“He sounds like a good friend.”

“The bestest friend ever!” Trey agreed.

“When I picked him up from school after I dropped you off he started having a new obsession with comics after they took this birds nest away. His friend Matt gave him an X-Men comic during silent reading and now all Trey wants is to be Wolverine for Halloween.”

“I was Captain America when I was his age.” I confessed.

“No, no, no, no,” Isaac laughed, disagreeing with my statement. “It has to be Batman all the way!”

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

Penner grew very fond of Trey by the end of the night. He liked all the stories he would tell him of school and his sports. But maybe he was just being a nice guy and playing along with the whole thing. With my parents in Nebraska, Penner told me that it was hard at first being on his own and having to do things for himself at such a young age.

This reminded me of my best friend Emmett who lived in a foster home for most of his life. He had to be a leader and role model for the younger kids who were lost more than he was.

Not a lot of people knew of his home life. Most people liked him because of his funny personality and how good he was at soccer. But then I think back to Penner and wonder what he did before he became famous, what he wanted to be in life.

I was sitting in the recliner after 8PM watching Indiana Jones after I put Katherine to bed. Penner said it was his favorite because it had Germans in it, but his comment only made me burst into laughter and wake my sleeping brother in front of the TV.

I scooped Trey into my arms and put him in pajamas before laying him down and wrapping him in blankets. I noticed it getting colder faster in Maine than it does in Nebraska, even if it was only September.

When I returned, Penner was sitting in my seat.

“You know that’s my spot right?” I flirted.

“I don’t see a name on it anywhere,” He joked, looking around for a name he wasn’t going to find. “I guess you’re just going to have to sit somewhere else.”

“Hmm,” I hummed, walking over to the chair and plopping down right in Penner’s lap. “This seat looks pretty good to me.” Both of my legs were on either side of his hips, my head rested on his shoulder. I could feel his hands running up and down my back, slowly and softly.

“I had a great time tonight.” Penner murmured.

“Yeah?” I questioned.

“Yeah,” He sighed. “But now I’ll probably ruin it by telling you what it was I needed to this whole time.”

“Go ahead.” I gulped.

“So you know how demanding my job is,” I nodded. “Well I have to leave on the 24th.” That’s when I popped my head off of his shoulder and looked in his eyes.

“Leave?” I snapped.

“It’s only for a week,” He grabbed onto my hands to intertwine out fingers. “I’ll be in New York, it’s not that far away. Me and my band have to be at meetings and interviews every month during our break.”

“Oh.” I cleared my throat, keeping my jaw clenched tight.

“I’m sorry, I wish there would’ve been an easier way to tell you—.”

“I’m just glad you didn’t wait until the night before to tell me,” I tried joking, but failing. “I hope I didn’t ruin your night.”

“You’re here with me now, right?”

Penner wrapped one of his arms around my waist while his other hand slipped under my shirt. His fingers found my lower stomach while his lips found my jawline. He pressed soft and slow kisses onto my skin, trying to keep silent.

But before things got too heated my phone started ringing from the kitchen, causing me to groan out loud at the interruption.

“You didn’t let Nixon have TV or computer right?” Was the first thing my mom asked.

“Great to hear from you too,” I said sarcastically. “How’s Lincoln?”

“Isaac, please just tell me.”

“He had to do a science lab online, but I supervised the whole thing.”

“Don’t let him have his phone either. Just make him stare at a wall.” She laughed.

“I’m trying not to even talk with him,” I mumbled. “I don’t want him to get even madder then he already is.”

“He’ll understand eventually,” Her voice was soft. “I’m sorry Izzy, but I only had a couple minutes to check in and see how everything was going.”

“Why what’s happening?” I questioned.

“We have to go meet with some people who help with your dad’s work.”

“Okay, I’ll tell them that you called.”

“Bye, dear.” She ended, hanging up first.

With a sigh I returned back to Penner, rolling back into his body. However, a few short seconds later, he sat up and grabbed my body in his arms, lifting me up from the chair and taking me to the couch. I let out a frustrated breath as Penner connected our foreheads together, one of his hands got lost in my hair while his other arm draped around my neck.

“How are you doing, love?” Penner asked through our lips.

“I don’t know if I should make you stay or make you leave.” I admitted.

“I’ll stay some other time,” He started. “When you’re brother won’t rat me out to your parents when they get back.”

To fight off the smile itching to replace the snarl on my lips, Penner closed his eyes and pulled me closer, connecting our lips together. I felt him smirk against my lips and I furrowed my eyebrows together, tugging Penner’s hair gently and hearing him laugh against his lips.

“Until tomorrow?” Penner asked.

“Until tomorrow.” I agreed, giving him a tight hug before I let him go out the door into the night.


	19. Tuesday, Sept. 18th: I Wanna Fly Can You Take Me Far Away

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

I was getting antsy—antsy to the point of my entire body shaking, not just my hands. The last time I felt this way I relapsed in the back seat of my car. Penner was leaving for an entire week and there was nothing I could do about it. He was the one steady thing that calmed me down from every stressful thing that happens to me here.

I’m not gunna make it.

I’m not gunna make it.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

“You know,” I started, breaking the silence by lifting up his chin, the unseasonably warm air blew through his hair. “I can barely see your bruise anymore.” I ran my fingers gently across his cheeks all the way to his nose.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good thing,” He avoided all eye contact. “I have to go meet someone so I’ll see you later.”

“Okay.” I responded, leaning in for a goodbye kiss, but without any eye contact he didn’t even see me asking for one.

I didn’t think anything ‘strange’ about it, I all honesty if he had to meet with someone, he had to meet with someone. And if he didn’t want to tell me then I wasn’t going to get in the middle of it because that could make me look like I was being extremely clingy.

Isaac left me sitting at a bench alone outside, but then I remembered that I had a difficult science test later today. My teacher insisted that I work with a tutor, one of her best students which turned out to be none other than Morgan herself. While we still hadn’t worked out all the curves in our friendship, I felt like she would be more forgiving than Jai.

Morgan sat down on the bench with me, helping me memorize the study guide for about 15 minutes, even though she’s been helping since last Friday.

“Thanks for helping me study for the science exam,” I stuffed my notes back into my book bag, the bell for the first class to begin. “I'm not able to remember anything about reverse osmosis.”

“It's just pressure forcing a solvent through a membrane—like when a water balloon gets too big and then explodes.”

“Got it.” I lied, nodding my head.

“Now, go crush that test.”

“Thanks.”

“Excuse me!” A voice shouted from behind the both of us as we began walking into the building, our heads turning to look at the person. “Do you guys know which way is the office?”

“Yeah, sure just go through the double doors then straight ahead, quick right and then your first left,” Morgan explained, using a couple of hand gestures. “You must be new here?”

“Yeah, I am it’s kind of hard to hide it,” His smile glowed. “My name’s John.”

“I’m Morgan, this is Penner.” She pointed at me. I reached my hand out expecting he would take it.

“Hi, Penner.” John said softly, taking my hand in his gently.

“Anyway, John I’m actually heading in that direction,” He focused his eyes back on Morgan. “Why you don’t follow me, it can get confusing.”

“Thanks, it’s nice to meet you Penner.” He glanced back at me before walking up to Morgan’s side.

(Jai’s P.O.V)

“So you can’t hang tonight?” I asked.

“My dad needs me to help my mom out at the diner.” She spoke, looking to her left.

“I’ll just meet you there—.”

“No!” She shouted, interrupting me. “He wants me to keep track of how many people order the clam chowder and that—that’s tough stuff that I need to pay attention to.”

“If you don’t want to hang out you can just tell me.” I explained.

“Jai, that’s not it—,” She was cut off by the bell. “I’m sorry, I have to go to class.” She left without a second thought.

“Hey,” I greeted, walking up alongside Lucas. “I didn’t get a chance to ask you how the party went. Did you end up getting lucky?”

“Hell no, not even close. Maddie ruined the whole thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“She was being a total jealous maniac.” A bit of anger in his voice.

“Jealousy means that she likes you.” His face was filled with a hint of disgust.

“Well what if I— I can’t like her like that.”

“I don’t think it’s up to you whether or not you get to pick.”

(Rebekah’s P.O.V)

I was curious to find out what Zach has been up to, considering that I told him to get his life together at the party. We never exchanged numbers, addresses or anything, so I only thought of one place he could be.

“Can I have a scotch?” I asked, the bartender giving me a strange look.

“Rebekah?” I smiled when I heard my name, but the voice isn’t the one I was ever hoping to hear again.

“I thought I might see you here.” I growled, when he took a seat next to me.

“You were secretly hoping—.”

“More like flamboyantly dreading,” I cut him off. “Ian, why are you here?”

“Curiosity, but I missed you.”

“Don’t sweet-talk me.” I spit, attempting to get out of my chair, but was held back by his hand. “Let go.”

“C’mon Bekah, I know you missed me too.”

“Thanks for holding my drink for me.” Zach inserted into the conversation. “I leave to use the restroom and I find you with another man?” Ian’s hand slowly released from my arm.

“He’s not even a man, more like a little boy.” I played along, extremely confused as to why Zach was here helping me.

“Is there a problem here?” Zach asked, putting his arm around my shoulder.

“Nah, man just saying hello to an old friend.” Ian finished, leaving the diner.

“Zach, I don’t know what to say. Than—.”

“Don’t thank me.” He put down my cup, not taking a drink of any of the alcohol. He took his arm off me and I watched him walk away, back to his stack of papers on the other side of the restaurant.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

“You have to chase me!” Trey shouted a little too loudly for being inside. “You're supposed to catch me.” I sat on the couch next to Nixon, waiting for Isaac to return home with Katherine. Trey put his small hands on my knees and attempted to lift himself with just his upper body strength.

“But if I catch you, the game will be over.” His face became rather sneaky and bolted out of the room.

“Thank you for amusing him.” Nixon murmured.

“He looked lonely, so I took pity on you,” I joked, but my face became serious. “Isaac promised to spend the day with me, I wonder what’s taking him so long?”

“Isaac wants people to think he doesn’t live by any rules but his own. Frankly, he cares more about other people then he cares for himself.”

“He is a very fascinating guy.” I admitted.

“He's here.” Nixon announced, a car door slamming could be heard from the driveway.

“What happened?” I asked when Isaac walked through the door with Katherine in his arms and a sack in his hand.

“People can be such jackasses.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I had to go to the store because Kitty was out of her pineapple cups,” Isaac put the small girl on her feet, going over towards Nixon and using her hands to communicate. “I got told off since I was taking too long in line due to Katherine’s failure to hear.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“They said sign language was taking too long and if I wanted to return to the store again I needed to come back without the kid.” His voice was filled with repulsion and he stormed out of the house, then I would assume up to his room.

“Well that’s a first.” Nixon said breaking the silence.

“What do you mean?”

“Stuff like that happens quite often, but I’ve never seen Isaac get so mad before.” He explained. Even I had to admit I’ve never seen him mad on that kind of level, especially over something that was always a reoccurrence.

“I’m gunna go talk to him.” I said, leaving Nixon to look after the child alone.

The journey up to his door was much longer than I recall, maybe because I was unsure of what was going to happen. But when I knocked on the door there was no turning back.

“What?” A mumbled voice came from behind the door.

“Babe,” I spoke softly. “Will you let me in?”

I stood waiting for his answer, but when a couple minutes went by I tried again.

“Isaac—.”

“Fine Penner, gosh.” His voice becoming rather irritated. I opened his door to see him lying face up on his bed, his eyes closed.

“I didn’t mean to make you upset, I’m just concerned about you.”

“Well thanks, Penn for all of the things you did for me tonight, but I think I just need to be alone.”

“Izzy can you look at me, please?” I asked, waiting for his eyes to open “I just want you to know, I really like you.”

“I really like you, too,” His eyes closed once again. “Good night, Penn.”

“See you soon, lovely.” I finished, leaving him to be alone, just as he asked.

(Jai’s P.O.V)

“Grayson,” I grabbed onto his shoulder. “Have you seen Morgan, she’s supposed to be here.”

“Why would she be here?” He moved his body to get my hand away from him.

“Your dad asked her to work—.”

“Nah man, she told me she was going to Carly’s for the night.” He took the empty tray in his hands and sat it on the counter until I would be filled with more food. I felt my jaw clench, and I stormed out of the diner. I can’t believe she lied to me, I mean her of all people it made me feel completely deceived.

“Jai!” Lucas yelled after me. “Hey, man wait up.”

“What Lucas?” I spit, the both of us standing along the lit up street.

“I’ve realized that I can’t pick who I like, but even if I do like her—I’m not going to do anything about it.”

“And why not?” I let out a deep breath, my chest falling slowly.

“If she wants me,” A smirk came to his face. “She’s going to have to chase me down and beg for it.”

“You’re such a freak.” I laughed, letting him go back inside to finish his dinner.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

“What are you doing here, where's Isaac?” Rebekah asked as soon as I walked through the door to my house.

“He’s at home.”

“And you’re here why?”

“Because he wanted to be with his siblings,” I snapped, becoming a little angry with all the questions I was being asked. “Rebekah?”

“Penn?”

“You haven’t noticed him acting any different have you?” I watched as she pondered the question. “I mean he wouldn’t kiss me, he barely even looked at me, he left this morning without telling me where he was going, and then he showed up late without any reason.” I listed.

“Now that I think of it when he came and picked Katherine up he didn’t want to stay and talk like usual.”

“Does this mean something?” I thought out loud.

“What if he’s trying to get over the fact that you’re leaving for a week?” That might explain it, but he’s already told me how much he doesn’t want me to leave. If he still wasn’t okay with it he would have to know that he doesn’t have to hide it from me.

“This is different,” I shook my head. “I just know it.”

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

The amount of time spent on my Spanish project I felt was a complete and total waste. Wes was my partner and he shoved the entire assignment on me. He said that he was too busy to deal with it because he always had football.

I was starting to become stressed. I had to fit in every other homework I had from my other classes, not to mention clean the house, make dinner and know where my brothers and sisters were at, at all times.

I just needed to relax. Of course I knew a way to do this because I’d done it so many times before. And what are the odds of getting caught? My parents were halfway across the country. It was so simple.

Elena, my alcohol counselor back in Nebraska always told me that some new drinkers may use alcohol as a way to escape or cope with problems. That alcohol may temporarily relieve stress and focus attention elsewhere, but the problems remain after you stop drinking. But what she didn’t tell me was how numb it would make me feel if I never stopped drinking. I wouldn’t have to deal with school. I wouldn’t have to deal with being the leader. That sounds pretty good to me.


	20. Wednesday, Sept. 19th: I Guess It Is What It Is

(Penner’s P.O.V)

“Aaahh!” I shouted when the sun blazed through my windows and the blankets were ripped off my body. “What are you doing, it’s early!” I tried covering up my half naked body from my sisters eyes.

“It's not early, you’re late for school,” She ripped the sheets from my body again, the cold air making me shiver. “Isaac just called.”

I looked over at my clock and the time said 8:37AM.

“Dammit,” I mumbled, bursting out of bed and throwing on some pants that were bundled up on my floor. “He’s not outside is he?” I asked.

“Nope, he said he called and texted you but you didn’t answer so he just left for school.”

“Well, maybe I’ll just get expelled and I won’t have to wake up so damn early every day.”

“Aim high, Baby Penn.” She smiled, leaving me to get ready.

“Will you quit calling me that?” I shouted after her. I picked my phone up from my desk and checked that I had four missed calls and six text messages from Isaac. But when I opened the messages my phone began to vibrate, signaling that my best friend was calling me.

“You’re up early,” I started. “It's a bit boring around here without you.”

“Huh, you think you're bored, my mom’s side of the family is like rain in a drought,” Boone laughed. “How's the real world treating you?

“Well,” I sighed. “It's teaching me the value of an ordinary human experience.”

“Man you have some major balls, I don’t have what it takes to go back to high school.” He admitted. Boone was three years older than me, which made him a sophomore in college if you look at it like that. But he hasn’t been in high school since his junior year, which is the year I’m in now. I consider Boone to be like a brother, even Rico and Zander are like brothers to me.

“Penner let’s go!” Rebekah shouted from downstairs.

“What was that?” He asked.

“It was just Rebekah but, look I uh— I got to get back to acting normal,” I said, picking out a shirt from my closet. “I’ll talk to you soon okay?”

“Wait, wait Penn is everything okay with you?” He asked.

“Yeah, yeah I’m normal and ordinary,” I joked, attempting to put my shirt on with one hand. “I’ll see you next week.” I ended, hanging up the phone and tossing it on my bed.

I tried to stall as much time as possible because let’s be honest who wants to be at school longer than you need to be? But when Rebekah caught on about ten minutes later, she pushed me out of the house and into my car.

I parked in the furthest spot away from school before I searched through the lot to look for Isaac’s car. When the office workers asked me why I was late, I just told the truth and they didn’t seem too mad, but I would assume that they get lied to all the time.

Lunch was the first time that I saw Isaac, even though it was about three hours later than usual. I think that the night alone did him some good because he seemed extra clingy and relaxed than he’s been. When I sat down at the table he latched onto my arm, not caring who saw.

“I thought that you were sick.” His hands clenched around my bicep.

“No, I’m okay I must’ve been just really tired,” I reassured. “But I’m glad that you called me, I’m sorry I didn’t reply.”

“It’s the least I could do.” His smile glowed.

“You’re in a good mood.” I laughed, flattening a loose bunch hair on his head.

“I’m happy to see you,” He whispered. “Are you happy to see me?”

“I’m very happy to see you,” I moved my face closer to his. “Is there a reason why you’re happy to see me?”

“Let me think—.”

“Isaac can I talk to you?” Morgan interrupted. I turned my head so our faces weren’t as close anymore.

“Now, Morgan?” Isaac asked, gripping my arm tighter.

“Yes now.” He glanced at me, but I simply nodded at him, telling him it was okay.

“I’ll be right back.” He patted my hand then went off the talk with her in the other area of the cafeteria.

I sat alone for a while, but a vibration from across the table startled me. When I saw it was Isaac’s phone I honestly didn’t mean to snoop, but I couldn’t help myself when the name ‘Elena’ was flashing on the device.

The screen darkened before I had a chance to read it, but then lit up again when just a few seconds went by. The message read:

_Haven’t had any urges lately I hope. Just know that I’m always here if you are feeling a—._

The message went black again. What could this mean? What did ‘Elena’ mean by urges? None of this made sense and there was only one way I was going to get to the bottom of this.

(Morgan’s P.O.V)

“Hey,” I smiled at Jai, his eyebrows scrunched together and his eyes avoided mine. “Umm—Jai are you okay?”

“Why did you lie to me yesterday?” He asked. How did he find out I lied? I didn’t want him to know I got the part of Alice, so I had to tell him I was somewhere else.

“Look, Jai—I think that you misunderstood me—.

“You’re lying.” He interrupted, his voice cold.

“I was as Carly’s okay?” I spit out, remembering the lie I’d given my brother. I was so stupid to not use the same one. “Maddie might like Lucas and I didn’t want to tell you because you would go and tell him—.”

“Wait that’s why you didn’t tell me where you were?”

I shook my head, lying to him.

I was never at Carly’s.

There was a mandatory meeting last night for all the cast and crew and I can’t let Jai know about it.

“I’m sorry for not telling you in the first place. I could’ve avoided this whole—.”

Jai smashed his lips to mine. For some reason it felt strange to be kissing him, just because we haven’t kissed in a few days.

“I’m sorry that I ever doubted you. I acted like a complete jerk and I hope that you will forgive me.” A few of his friends walked past the two of us, cat-calling at Jai because he was with me.

“I mean maybe I can make an exception.” I winked, pulling our lips together again.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

“So are you doing anything later?” Isaac asked.

“I’ve got to email my manager about what we’re doing next week. My bandmates keep asking me as if I know what’s going on.” I tried laughing.

“Why did you have something else in mind?”

“I just thought that we could—we could maybe uh—hang out again,” He stuttered. “I mean you don’t have to, but I just want to be with you as long as possible you know, before you leave and everything.”

His face blushed and he bit his lip, looking at me through his eyelashes. I gave him a soft smile and grabbed onto his cheeks, going in for a kiss.

“I couldn’t think of anything else I’d rather do,” I whispered, looking around to see the hallway clearing of the students. “Come over after dinner, around 7PM?”

“See ya then.” His smile reaching his ears. I gave him one last look until he went off towards his own classroom.

As I entered Mr. Reed’s class he was sitting at his desk and waved me over with his hand.

“Here’s your homework for next week,” Zach handed me a stack of multi- colored papers. “We’re taking a test next Tuesday over the sixties and well go through the decade during class. But we are switching sections while you’re gone. I’ll just wait to give you notes for the next chapter.”

“Are you feeling alright?” I questioned. His hair wasn’t done, his eyes were drooping and he forgot to shave.

“You know I can’t—I can’t discuss this with you of all people.”

“What do you mean?” He began grading a homework assignment about the first man on the moon.

“Just tell your sister that she knows she’s making the wrong choice but she’s doing it anyway,” The bell rang for class to begin, Zach took a glance at his students then back at me. “And I find that extremely sad.” He moved out from behind his desk and started the lesson for the day, leaving me to stand awkwardly in front of the class.

(TIME PASS)

Once Isaac arrived to my house he insisted that we go see the Atlantic, which I didn’t mind too much but it was starting to get colder and colder every day. When I pulled up along the shore he bolted out of my car and onto the empty beach.

“Where are we going?” I laughed, watching him run onto the sand and diving into the shallow part of the ocean.

“Everywhere!” He shouted, laying down on his back attempting to float on the waves.

“Would you slow down and wait for me I want to come with you.” I kept my distance from the water, not wanting to get my pants wet.

“Get in the water, Penner.” Isaac demanded.

“Nah I’m—I’m okay right here.”

“Penner get in the water.” He tried again.

“You should get out of the water before you turn into an ice cube.” I joked, resisting the urge inside of me to go and kiss his face off. The way his eyes lit up against the sea, the way his damp hair was stuck to his forehead, and the way the dimples on his cheeks would appear when he smiled made in nearly impossible to resist it.

“Penn, will you get in the water?” He asked softly, his bottom lip sticking out. I could barely hear him over all the other sounds around us.

“No,” He sat down where the sand and water met and crossed his arms over his chest like a child. “You can pout all you want I’m not getting in.”

I turned my head to the right to try and act like I was interested in something else, but out of nowhere Isaac tackled me into the sand and attempted to pick me up.

“Stopstopstop! Izzy don’t stop please stop—,” I squirmed in his arms which wasn’t working, but when I saw a part of his arm was in front of my face in opened my mouth to take a bite out of him.

“Owwww!” He screeched, letting me go and the both of us fell onto the sand, just inches away from where the sand and water met. “That really hurt.” He said, checking the see if my teeth broke any of his skin.

“I don’t want in the water.”

“You’re a party pooper.” He muttered, laying back in the sand. The cool breeze was coming from the sea.

“Can I ask you something?” I blurted, thinking about what happened at school earlier.

“Sure.” He smiled, turning his head to look at me.

“Who’s Elena?”

“How do you know about her?” He asked defensively, his grin disappearing from his face in an instant.

“You don’t have to—.”

“How do you know about her?!” He shouted, interrupting me before I could finish my sentence.

“Izzy, just relax it’s not that big of a deal honestly.” I tried to reach my hand out to take his, but he ripped it away from mine.

“Just tell me right now,” He demanded through his teeth. “How do you know Elena?”

“She texted you at lunch when you were off talking with Morgan.” I spoke honestly.

“So you were looking through my phone?” A tone of disbelief came from his mouth.

“Her name was on the screen,” I explained. “If it’s really personal you don’t need to tell me.”

“It’s not personal.” His attitude softened.

“If she’s not important then why are you being so defensive about her?” I wondered.

“I’m sorry I’m just really protective.”

“Is there a reason for that?” I questioned.

“Don’t.” He snapped.

“Don’t what?” I began to grow confused about the whole conversation and regretted bringing it up in the first place.

“Don’t— don’t treat me like that.”

“Like what, what are you even talking about?”

“I’m talking about how you treat me like I have to be protected because I’m incapable or something.”

“Why’s that a bad thing that I want to protect you?” I asked, wanting him to see that I’m not trying to make him upset. “Don’t you understand that it’s better than getting pushed around?”

“No, I don’t understand and—and I don’t get you I mean is this some kind of pity thing because I must have missed the reason why you’re being so nice to me?” His voice sounded filled with misunderstanding and hurt, and I wondered where he was getting it from. “I just don’t understand why you’re concerned in the first place. You obviously don’t seem like the type to take on hopeless people just for the hell of it.”

“Isaac,” I said cautiously. “Is it that hard to believe I truly like you?” I asked. “You’re not hopeless. I want— I do want to be your friend, even more than that, alright? I mean what kind of proof do you want?” All he gave me was a shrug of his shoulders, unsure of where to go from here.

“If you don’t want me or whatever, then I’ll leave you alone. I just—I just thought we were getting along and I don’t want you to overthink what we’ve got between us because it is something special.”

“I want to believe you.” He whispered.

“Tell me what I can do to make you believe.”

“I don’t want you bringing up Elena ever again.” He spit, his eyes growing dark and becoming a different person in less than a few moments.

(Nixon’s P.O.V)

I fought with my brother for what seemed like hours. He wanted to leave again, saying that he needed to spend time with Penner before he left. I kept telling him that I would tell mom and dad that he left, but he wasn’t having any of that.

I wanted him to think that he was going to get in trouble just like I did, which I wasn’t fully over yet. I’m really trying to understand why I can do the smallest thing and get sent to boarding school and he can assassinate the president and get away with it.

I guess that’s just what happens when you’re the oldest.

So when he left, he made me watch over Trey and Katherine by myself. That is until there was a knock on the door a couple hours after my brother was gone.

I was getting my sister ready for bed when she followed me over the door after I was alarmed when someone was knocking this late at night.

I went and answered the door, Katherine following close behind. While I was expecting Grayson or Hannah, Rebekah Watson was nothing less than a surprise.

“Isaac’s not here.” I said flatly, my sister clinging onto her teacher.

“I’m here to see you, actually.” Her voice was low and soft.

“Something must be extremely wrong if you are talking to me.” I spoke, stepping aside to let her in the house.

“Penner knows about Isaac’s drinking,” She began. “The look on his face, I mean he was so betrayed.”

Even though I was feeling happy that my brother was finally getting his karma, deep down I know that his wasn’t going to end well for any of us.

“How do you know about that?”

“When your parents brought your sister to sign her up they told me about Isaac’s problems and to look out for warning signs,” Her voice barely above a whisper. “Especially around Katherine.”

“Well I meant how do you know that Penner knows?”

“He came home talking about how Isaac was freaking out over some girl named Elena and how she was trying to help him with his urges or something. He assumed that he had drug problems because he’s been acting really sketchy with his emotions all of the sudden.”

“He’s fine, he hasn’t relapsed in over a year.”

“The signs are there.”

I began to think to myself, seeing if the signs were actually there. I mean there was the whole Katherine and the store incident and he was jittering pretty badly at breakfast this morning. Now Rebekah is in my house telling me that he flipped on Penner, someone he would never want to hurt.

“Wow,” I breathed, biting on my lip. “This is bad.”

“You’re not gonna tell Isaac are you?” She asked.

“No, I mean, what if Penner tries to get even?” A glimpse of confusion was on her face. “You know, like do something to completely piss Isaac off?” I explained further.

“Well, we’re not gonna let that happen. We have to get to him and reason with him before he does something stupid,” Her hands were flailing in the air. “You have to talk to him.”

“Wait, wait—.”

“Just try to explain, you know?” I pondered that, chewing on the inside of my cheek. If Penner was to give me orders and advice, I hope he was ready to recieve it.

“If his secret’s out there now,” Her eyes fixed on mine. “Let the games begin.”

(Zach’s P.O.V)

I saw him again. Rebekah’s so called friend. He was in the street outside of an apartment building along the edge of the city limits. I was walking home from the diner after having four glasses of bourbon, I could smell the salt water coming from the Atlantic.

But when he and I were less than 20 feet away, he looked over at me with a smug look on his face.

“Are you coming to see Rebekah?” He hollered.

“What are you talking about?” I mumbled, a little uncertain if he could hear me.

“I think you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Rebekah doesn’t live here.”

He smirked, nodding as if he believed me. “Why don’t you tell me something you do know,” His voice was childish. “What’s your name?”

I understood his words and was going to give an eighth grade response, but I couldn’t make my mouth move. “Hey man I asked you a question or are you deaf?”

“My name is Zach.” I spit, trying to keep my balance.

“I’m Ian.” At that point all flashing lights began going off in my head.

“Oh so you’re the full grown douche bag Rebekah always talks about.”

“She said that about me?” His voice filled with confidence.

“Rebekah’s a good person and she deserves the best.”

“I agree.” He nodded.

“That’s why I’m here,” The words just started rolling off my tongue, unable to stop them from coming out of my mouth. “To make sure she gets it.”

“Was that supposed to be a threat?” He snorted. “Couldn’t you throw a punch or maybe irritate me a little?” The gap between the both of us became non- existent.

“I’m not a violent guy by design.”

“Oh, you’re not a very smart one either.” I could see his uneven teeth when he talked and I started clenching my fists together. I grew up in Detroit, not in the best neighbor you could imagine. I learned to fight my way out of battles that I knew were too big for me to handle.

“How’s that?” I asked, but the crash of a door slamming and a blurry yet new face from a few houses down got my attention. I couldn’t remember his name for the life of me. What was his name, what was his name, what was hi—? Wait, his name is John!

“Cause you have no idea who you’re talking to.” Ian muttered, punching me in the jaw and knocking me to the ground.

(TIME PASS)

“Finally you’re awake.” A voice spoke from above me. I blinked several times, adjusting to the dim light in the room.

“What happened to me?” I questioned, unaware of my surroundings.

“It looks like you got into a fight,” I turned my head to look at the voice, and it belonged to none other than Rebekah. “The left side of your face is a little swollen and there’s a bruise on your stomach.”

“My stomach?” I lifted up my shirt and there was a medium sized bruise forming on the lower part of my ribs. “Oh.”

“Getting you up here was not the easiest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I had to ask Mr. Thomas to help carry you up the stairs which was convenient because you were passed out just outside the building.”

“Where am I?” I looked around the place which only was made for one person to live in. A small kitchen table sat in the back corner next to the refrigerator and my body occupied the couch that was turned to face the TV along the wall. She was sitting on the coffee table in front of me.

“You’re in my apartment.”

“This isn’t your house.” I said, seeming to have been saying that over and over again.

“It is when Penn isn’t here. I had to stop by and pick up some extra clothes.”

“So Ian was right.”

“You talked to Ian?” Her voice was filled with confusion.

“I’m 99.9% percent sure he’s the one who did this to me.”

“I’m sorry, he’s just jealous.”

“So what’s the deal with him?” She paused for a moment before sighing.

“We used to date when we were in high school,” She pulled a piece of fuzz off of her jeans. “We dated for over 5 years, but then he cheated on me with my best friend.”

“That sounds like something that happens in movies.” I tried joking to lighten the mood.

“Well my life isn’t exactly ordinary,” I turned my head to the side in question. “You know, being the sister to a famous musician sounds like something that happens in movies more than being backstabbed does.”

I nodded my head in agreement, but found that I was invading her home after we couldn’t find anything else to talk about.

“I appreciate you opening up your home to me, but I should get out of your hair. I’ve got work in the morning and I’m still a little drunk.” I lifted my body from the couch, but she continued to sit on the table.

“I hope that everything works out well for you.” She murmured, keeping her eyes down.

“Goodnight Rebekah.” I simply replied, stepping through her apartment until I found the front door and closed it behind me.

(Nixon’s P.O.V)

“I’m getting all my homework done, I promise.” I answered my mom’s question about my schoolwork.

“Nikky.” It was after 10:30PM I would say, when my younger brother sat up in his bed and looked over at me. The both of us had to share a room, since Katherine needed her own.

“What Trey, go to sleep.”

“You’re being loud.” His head fell back down on his pillow. I guess he was right, I had my lamp on and I was talking on the phone late at night. I sighed and got out of my bed and went into the hallway to talk.

“Mom,” I breathed into the phone. “I think we have a problem.” 

“What do you mean is everything okay?” She questioned.

“It’s Isaac,” I mumbled. “It’s happening again.”


	21. Thursday, Sept. 20th: Sooner Or Later I Need A Savior

(Isaac's P.O.V)

“Dad, I can’t talk right now.” I said, balancing my phone against my ear by pressing it against my shoulder.

“I know but, I didn’t get a chance to talk to you last night.”

“Yeah I went to bed early.” I lied, setting Katherine’s fruit in front of her at the table.

“Is everything going okay there?” He asked.

“Nixon locked himself in the bathroom again,” I said, trying to change the subject from me to someone else. “It’s like he doesn’t think we don’t know what he’s doing in there.”

“He’s 14,” He laughed. “They don’t think.”

“Good morning.” I announced when Nixon entered the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge.

“I gotta get to school.” He said, bolting to the door and closing it behind him.

“Look dad I need to get to class.” I lied again, watching Trey as his eyes glued onto his morning cartoons.

“Right, right I’ll just talk to you tonight.” He finished, hanging up the phone without a goodbye.

While I was talking with him, I received a text message from Penner, the first one in a couple days.

_From Penn: I have stuff I need to do. I’ll take myself to school today._

Of course he would want to take himself. It was obvious that I’ve ruined everything and I didn’t even know how to tell him what was happening. I thought I had everything under control. I guess things must be getting worse.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

Ever since my sister and my history teacher have been getting closer, I've started to become more comfortable around Mr. Reed. Although, I felt like a complete idiot the first time I accidentally called Mr. Reed, Zach. It was after I just got done talking to Rebekah, she just explained to me about her run-in with him last night. Of course to me it seemed nothing like a conscience that Zach would be outside her apartment just as she was getting home.

“Hello, boys and girls,” Mr. Reed greeted after walking in after all the other students. “What kind of knowledge are we going to learn today?”

“We've been talking about the sixties all week.” Maddie piped up from the front row. Zach kept his head down, trying not to make eye contact, but I knew that he had injuries all over his face.

“Yes of course the sixties—uh, ahem—the sixties,” He started, clearing his throat and turning to write down a list of events on the board behind him. “The Beatles made the sixties tolerable even though there was that Cuban missile thing, not to mention we walked on the moon which was pretty cool. Plus there was the Reagan assassination attempt which was a big deal—.”

“Reagan was in the eighties, Zach,” I interrupted, glancing around the class as they looked at me for calling my teacher by his first name. “I—I mean, Mr. Reed.”

“Right,” Zach coughed as I bit my lip, putting my head down in embarrassment. “It all kinda blends together up here. Thank you, Penner.

(Maddie’s P.O.V)

“Are you going to help me study or are you going to continue to stare at the gay guy?” I snapped, watching Carly drool over Isaac.

“There’s no way he can be gay.” She whined.

“He is and there is no changing that. What’s the next one?” I questioned trying to change the topic.

“Toga virus.”

“Umm, toga virus causes congenital rubella, whatever that is.” I said positively.

“Okay, good,” She said, flipping over to the next card. “Red Queen Theory.”

“A theory often used to explain the opposing connection between predator and prey.”

“And why does the allegedly weaker species always stay one step ahead?

“Fear of elimination. The rabbit is faster than the fox because the fox is chasing its dinner. The rabbit's running for its life.”

“Damn,” She gasped. “How did you learn all that so quickly?”

“Well, whenever anyone tells me I can't do something, I prove them wrong.” I explained with a smile on my face.

“What are you gunna do to prove to Lucas that you don't need him?” Her gaze went back to Isaac, who was scribbling down words into his notebook.

“I don't want to talk to Lucas because that would involve communication and common interest and respect, and I want you here because I wanted to hang out with you today.” I ended, finishing my rant about Lucas.

“At least you’re not trying to use me as an excuse to lie to your boyfriend.” She mumbled, playing with her book bag zipper.

“You mean Morgan?”

“Of course I mean Morgan. I’m not, not going to help her because she’s my friend, but she’s not the only one who is going to get into trouble if she gets caught.”

“It’s gunna fall back on all of us.”

(Nixon’s P.O.V)

“Where’s your lunch?” Hannah asked when I walked up to the table empty handed.

“I’m not hungry.” I responded.

“Oh, okay well you should know that we’re going out later.”

“We as in who?” I asked, looking at Grayson out of the corner of my eye.

“Me, Crystal and Grayson,” He continued to eat his lunch. “We haven’t hung out in a while and I wanna have some fun.”

“I don’t know—.”

“Oh, c’mon.”

“Hannah, if he doesn’t want to go let him sit at home like a dud.” Grayson piped up, swallowing whatever food he had left in his mouth.

“We really need your help tonight.” Hannah tried.

“Wha—don’t tell him that!” Grayson shouted.

“Help with what?” My curiosity getting the best of me.

“You remember Damon right, he threw that beginning of the year party a couple weeks ago? Anyway, he just got back from Montreal and he’s passing through town on his way to Boston.”

“Okay, what does that have to do with me?” I wondered.

“He said he would hit us up with the best stuff, but only for a price.” She whispered, leaning in so no one would hear her.

“How much are we talking here?”

“Around $25,” Her eyes looked down and she started playing with her fork. “Crystal and I are both pitching in, but Grayson is covering most of it from his paycheck at work.”

“You want me to give you money so you can buy drugs?” I questioned, clarifying the situation.

“Think of it this way,” Grayson started. “If you lend us the money then we owe you a favor in return. That’s what being friends is all about,” I looked over at Hannah who still had her eyes down, not looking at either of us. “Are you gunna help us out or what?”

None and I mean none of this sounded like a good idea. I mean, I’m giving them money to go and buy illegal drugs that could get us put in juvy. Then again, they’re the only friends I have here and I don’t want to ruin that.

“Yeah,” I said with fake confidence. “Okay, I’ll help you out.”

 (Penner’s P.O.V)

I was supposed to meet Rebekah here for dinner about ten minutes ago and I’ve been sitting alone waiting for her to show up. Usually I would be excited when I would run into Isaac unexpectedly, but in this case I could honestly look the other way and avoid him. That was until he came up to my table and started having a conversation with me.

“Penner?” His voice soft since it was coming from across the table.

“Isaac.” My eyes still on the menu.

“Hey I— I called you ten times last night,” He gulped. “We need to talk.”

“Sorry I’ve been busy.” I mumbled, hoping Rebekah would show up any minute.

“If you’re mad at me Penner you need to get over it.” He insisted.

“Oh I’m over it.” I confirmed, picking up my glass and taking a drink.

“You’re not going to be one of those boyfriends who get pissed and ends up sleeping with someone else because you want to get back at me are you?”

I snorted, nearly choking on my saliva. “Is that what we are?” I asked rhetorically. “You’re my boyfriend?”

“I mean I thought—.” A flash of hurt came upon his face. I slammed the menu shut, unable to stop words from flooding out of my mouth.

“You know I’m so confused about this whole thing. One minute I honestly believe that you’re the best thing that has happened to me, extremely kind and selfless, I mean you would practically do anything for me,” He nodded in agreement.

“Then the next minute you’re defensive and you seem to care less if you’re with me or not. And truth be told I don’t know if I can handle this—all the secrets and— I’ve been there, but with you I thought that things would change and be different.” I tried finding the right words without getting him to hate me. Even though in this moment I was angry with him, I still liked the person I originally met and I wanted him to come back from wherever he went.

“Things are different Penner—this isn’t me, this isn’t who I am. You have to know that I’m telling the truth.” He begged for me to understand.

“If you were telling the truth, you wouldn’t be trying so hard to convince me of how honest you are,” I finished, catching eye of my sister entering the restaurant. “Now if you will excuse me.” I pointed to Rebekah, who was approaching the table.

“Sure, Penn.” He spoke softly, then left me to be alone with my sister.

“Hey Isaac,” Rebekah greeted. I watched as he ignored her completely and exited the diner with his brother, Nixon following behind with a to-go bag in his hands. “Jeez, what was that about?” She asked, setting her coat in the chair to my left.

It doesn’t matter.” I whispered, but honestly it did mean something to me. I was so upset that he was starting to act this way, but I felt completely helpless that I couldn’t—can’t do anything about it.

“Hmm that was vague,” She began. “Anyway I need to use the restroom. Will you order my usual?” I bit my lip and nodded, tracing a random pattern on the table with my finger as she walked away.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

“What do you want?” He questioned from where he was laying on the couch in front of the TV.

“I was hoping we could hang, you know a little brother one-on-one.”

“Well, Nixon,” He huffed, sitting up to face me. “I think that you’re bored and you have nothing else better to do than to bother me with your pointless commentary about how you’re going to ruin my life this week.” He tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow at me.

“I actually wanted to talk to you about you and Penner.” I confessed.

“Why would I talk to you about that?” His face becoming serious.

“Because I see that you’re having problems—.”

“I’m fine and even if I wasn’t I sure as hell wouldn’t go to you for advice.” He spit interrupting me, but not before going up the stairs to the bathroom and slamming the door shut, seeming to make the entire house shake.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

After dinner I was at home when Rico called me in hysterics, sending pictures of me that are being posted in tabloids all over the country. At first I was confused by what he was talking about, but then I remembered Boone telling me the same thing not even a week ago.

“I can’t believe you stole a cat from a kid.”

“Rico,” I growled. “For the third time I didn’t take a cat from anyone in my life.”

“Then explain the picture.”

“I can’t—well I mean I can,” He waited silently on the other end of the line. “I was helping a friend.

“Helping a friend do what, steal a cat?” He joked.

“You’re not being funny,” I said seriously. “My friend’s cat ran away and I was giving it back.”

“Explain the boy?”

“That’s my friend’s little brother,” I explained. “Look, I don’t know how or when this was taken, but whoever is taking pictures of me is making it seem like I’m doing something bad when I’m really not.”

“That’s kinda messed up.”

“Tell me about it.” I sighed.

“Sorry I thought you would take an animal from a child.”

“Umm apology accepted?” I spoke, making it come out as if it were a question. “Hey, I gotta go someone’s at my door.” I ended as the knock at the door sounded again.

When I opened the door I didn’t know who I was expecting to be standing there, but Nixon wasn’t someone on that list.

“What do I owe this pleasure?” I asked, crossing my arms and leaning against the door frame in my sweatpants and t- shirt.

“I was supposed to go to my friend’s house, but I thought that this is more important.” His eyes looking down at my socks.

“And you’re on my doorstep because? How do you even know where I live?”

“I needed to explain what’s going on.” I chewed on the inside of my cheek, waiting for him to continue.

“What are you talking about?”

“Rebekah told me that you know about Isaac’s problem.”

“Rebekah sure has been busy hasn’t she?” I asked rhetorically.

“Look I know that you must be confused with what’s going on right now.”

“Confused would be an enormous understatement.”

“Isaac went through a lot a few years back and this was the only way he saw to make things better for himself.”

“He didn’t need to lie to me about it,” I snapped, uncrossing my arms and flinging them in the air. “Doesn’t he know that?”

“Things have been going in many directions in such a short amount of time—.”

“I've seen quite a lot in such a short time,” I admitted, cutting him off. Just imagine travelling for two years straight and getting to know the way other people around the world live. You’re whole point of view on the world changes. “The world is a fairly terrible place which is why I think it’s best to meet it on its own terms.

“The world isn't terrible and people aren't terrible,” He denied, shaking his head back and forth. “They want to be good, but something makes them bad. Something breaks them down that makes them crack. There are always signs and indications before someone has a psychotic break.”

“You're educated on this stuff.” I moved out of the way, letting him come into my house when people were walking along the sidewalk and glaring at the both of us.

“He’s my brother, my idol and my role model,” He explained, sitting down on my couch. “I couldn't sleep so I would dream about what happened, and I hate it— I hate that I didn't help him soon enough.” 

“Why didn’t you help him?” I wondered.

“I saw the way my brother acted, like he didn’t have any worries or anything holding him back,” He shrugged while a smirk showed through on his face. “I wanted to live in his carefree world.”

“We are all left alone to face our demons.” I carelessly said, thinking about my parents and how they never believed their own son, but believed a two- face liar who I let into my life two years ago.

“What if someday, his demons become mine too?” His voice becoming soft.

“Nixon, truth be told I’ll let you in on a little secret,” I started, sitting down on the couch next to him, leaving enough space so we both would feel comfortable in this situation. “There’s an entire world out there waiting for you. There’s great music and cities and you can have all of it. But you can’t have it trying to be someone you’re not.”

“That’s why you’re not going to hold this against Isaac,” He began. “This is who he is like it or not, but you can’t be pissed and make things worse for him by trying to get even.”

“I wasn’t going to make him pay for all he’s done because what would that say about me?” I mumbled, making sure Nixon understood that I never wanted to hurt Isaac. “What are you going to do about him now?”

“I told my mom that he is acting up again,” He began. “She’s the only one who can get him to think clearly.”

“Okay,” I nodded. “And when will she be back? I want Isaac to get back to his normal self.”

“It should be any day now.” He informed.

“Tell me what drove Isaac to this point? What caused him to break down?”

“Isaac needs to tell you himself,” He murmured. “Anyway, I think I should be getting home.”

“You know, Nixon,” I led him over to the door. “If we’re going to get Isaac back on the rails, you’re going to have to change your attitude.”

“What?” He gasped.

“You’ve been getting into some problems with drugs and alcohol lately—.”

“Let’s just focus on Isaac.” He ended, walking through my front door and out into the darkness.


	22. Friday, sept. 21st: I'll Be There When You Call

(Nixon’s P.O.V)

“Why is Penner parked outside our house?” Isaac called out from the living room.

“I need a ride to school.” I said with a full mouth of cereal.

“Then why didn’t you ask me?” He asked as I leaned up against the doorframe of the kitchen.

“Because he’s giving you one too.” I grinned, knowing that he would be uncomfortable.

“I-I’ve got to take Kitty and Trey, I can’t just leave them here.” He protested.

“Bring them along then.”

“That’s not a good idea.” He disagreed, shaking his head back and forth.

“Sure it is.” I finished my breakfast, taking the bowl over to the sink and setting it down. During Penner and I’s discussion last night over how to handle Isaac this was a solution we came up with. Penner said that he wanted to help get Isaac back to ‘normal’ and what better way to do that then to spend quality, awkward time together.

“Nixon what are you doing?” He mumbled, as I threw my jacket on.

“I’m not doing anything.” I lied, getting my book bag from my room and then meeting the rest of them at Penner’s car.

“We have to take Trey to school and Katherine to daycare.” I warned Penner before Isaac came outside with the two children attached to his side.

“Rebekah will take care of that,” He pointed behind him. “She’s in her car behind us. She wants me to fix Isaac and she said she would help anyway she can. I figured that this would happen and she’s heading to the same place they are.”

“Wow,” I breathed. “You’re quick.” I complimented. Penner then got out of his car and started explaining to Isaac what was happening. My brother’s expression pretty much said it all, zero eye contact and the lip biting was classic Isaac when he was in the presence of someone he liked.

He finally let Rebekah take my younger siblings after Isaac tried to fight it and say that it wasn’t a good idea because our mom would be mad if she found out. He had a good point though, Trey could tell her but most likely wouldn’t and Katherine probably wouldn’t even remember it by the time the both of them got back from Nebraska.

The drive to school was awkward. I was stuck with radio silence, thankfully just for a couple minutes until Penner pulled his car into an empty spot in the school parking lot. Isaac instantly bolted out of the car and towards the front door of the building, not waiting for us to catch up.

“Why are you so extra gloomy?” I asked, noticing Penner’s face as he watched Isaac walking alone ahead of us.

“You still think he’s gunna screw this up, don’t you?” He questioned, only using one strap of his book bag that hung from his right shoulder.

“I think somebody needs to talk to him,” I looked forward, noticing that his friends were starting to gather around him. “He’s not gunna listen to a word I say.”

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

“You’re going to the raffle tomorrow right?” Jai asked, sliding into the chair next to Morgan and letting her have a drink of his Gatorade.

“Uh— I’ll think about it.” I mumbled, playing with a hangnail on my finger.

“You should go, we haven’t talked in a while—.”

“I said I’d think about it, Jai.” I interrupted. Jai blankly glared at me while Morgan stared at the side of his face.

“Okay, so what’s going on with you and Penner?”

“Nothing.” I looked down, not wanting to talk about this topic.

“Did he push you aside just like he did to us?” He pushed again.

“No.”

“When are you going to start sitting with him at lunch again?”

“Jai!” Morgan gasped. I could hear the sound of her hand smacking the bare skin of his arm.

“It’s just a question.”

“Actually I have to go.” I picked up my back pack off the ground and pushed my chair out, storming away without giving them second look.

I stormed over to my locker, pounding my fists against it before opening it up and throwing all of my stuff into it. I don’t think anything else was going on inside my body besides all the anger building up. It’s hard enough that I have to handle the fact that I’m losing control over myself, but then when Jai wants to bring Penner into all of this doesn’t make things easier for me.

“Look what we have here. What’s wrong fag?”

(Penner’s P.O.V)

_To Zander: I can’t help you with that!_

_From Zander: And I thought you were like a brother to me…_

I laughed to myself, looking at my phone and typing out a reply. But before I could hit send I ran right into someone’s shoulder, causing me to lose balance. When I looked up to see who it was it was a watery- eyed Isaac standing in front of me.

“Sorry, Penner.” He said trying not to let the tears slip from his eyes.

“Izzy,” I gasped, using his familiar nickname. “What’s the matter?” I reached out to try and comfort him.

“Uh, it’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing if you’re upset.” I said, taking his hand and pulling him over onto the side of the hallway. He sucked in a deep breath trying to find the words to say.

“I just thought that this wouldn’t happen h-here because of all the good people I’ve met, but I guess I was w-wrong.” His voice trembled.

“What do you mean?” I wondered.

“I d-didn’t think I-I would be shoved around bec-cause I’m gay.” The blood in my veins began to overheat. I was never picked on for being different than everyone around me, except for the magazines and fans that would say those kinds of things. So when Isaac, someone I still cared deeply for even though I was still somewhat mad at, was being harassed I wanted to get to the bottom of it immediately

“Who was it, do you know?” I grabbed onto both of his shoulder, whispering just in case this person was still hanging around.

He nodded, biting on his lip as he gazed at the floor.

“Who?” I pressed, watching kids start to come out of class after the bell rang around the whole school.

“I’ve got to get to class.” He pulled out of my grasp, backing up slowly before ducking around the corner alone.

“Isaac no, wait.” I called after him, but it was no use. If I ever found out who was doing this to Isaac, let’s just say that teeth would be missing from their mouth.

(Jai’s P.O.V)

After school when I got home, my mom was there waiting for me. She told me that I needed to find Dean Rooney and ask if he would be willing to participate in the Bachelor Raffle fundraiser tomorrow. My mom is the queen when it comes to planning community events, but she’s not very good at getting people to sign up for it.

I fortunately, knew just where to find him.

“Daytime drinking, huh?” I smiled as I saw Dean sitting alone at the bar of the diner.

“It's all the rage.” He joked, putting the glass up to his lips.

“Listen, I’m glad I found you,” I started. “I need a favor.”

“You ever been in love?” He asked, ignoring my statement.

“Excuse me?” I raised my eyebrows, becoming confused on what he was getting at. A part of my thought that he was already drunk, but it was only 4PM in the afternoon.

“Have you ever been so focused on someone, just to have your heart ripped out by them?” He further explained.

“You forget I have Morgan.” I joked, tilting my head to the side.

“Oh, right!” He laughed, using his finger to signal over the bartender. “He'll have what I'm having.” He winked at the girl, making her smile as she poured me a drink and set it on the counter.

“There's a fundraiser here tomorrow night that the Founder's Board is throwing,” I started, sitting down in the chair next to him. “The town's most suitable bachelors get raffled off for dates and well—we're short a bachelor.” I explained.

“Is this what you do when there's no college parties? Organize bachelor drawings?” He noticed that I wasn’t drinking the booze he bought for me, so he gladly took it for himself.

“I’m doing this for my mom alright, she’s the head of the whole Founder’s thing,” I clarified. “Look, you're a sports figure in this town and you're single and a catch!” His eyes becoming annoyed. “Oh, come on help me out. My mom will slap me into another nationality if I come up empty-handed.” I pleaded.

“You know, a room full of women trying to win a date with me,” He swallowed down his last glass before getting out of his chair. “That sounds yummy.” He said, leaving me alone at the bar.

“Thank you!” I called after him, a group of friends turning around to glare at my outburst.

“Jai, you ready?” Morgan asked, coming out from the kitchen.

“Yeah, let’s go.” I grinned, taking her hand in mine.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

Nixon and I both had a plan. Kinda. Well, we were both going to try and get to Isaac at the student career night being held at the school. I was hoping to try and clear things up between the two of us while Nixon was going to try and get to the source of why he’s having this reaction in the first place.

Of course, seeming as I’m still in high school, I always have to deal with other people’s problems including my own. So when Lucas came up to me complaining about his life with Maddie I didn’t have much to say.

“She’s constantly dodging me all the time or she’s with Carly. I thought that she liked me and whenever I try and talk to her she always bails and goes somewhere else.”

Carly walked through the door, looking around to see if she spotted anyone she knew. I pointed her out to Lucas. “There’s Carly, why don’t you—,” I stopped in my tracks at the sight in front of me. Jason and Isaac were exchanging hugs and smiling and laughing. “Umm, why don’t you go talk to her about it?”

“You know what, just forget it,” He sighed, my eyes not leaving Isaac. “I’m gunna go find Jai.”

I was completely and utterly confused. Since when does Isaac like Jason? This has to be a mistake, I mean this is isn’t something I thought Isaac would do. I didn’t think he would get back at me by flirting with Jason, someone who admitted that they liked me.

“Penner.” Zach acknowledged, coming up to me.

“Hi, Mr. Reed.” I smiled, watching as my sister was making her way over to the both of us.

“I was hoping I would see you tonight.” He grinned, gazing at Rebekah.

“Career night is the new bowling.” She joked. Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. Jason was leaving Isaac and I found this to be the perfect opportunity to push my butt into the door.

“Okay, um—excuse me.” I said, leaving Rebekah with Zach to have their own conversations. Isaac was alone at a booth about careers in health so I decided to make my way over towards the table.

“No babysitting duties tonight?” I asked, coming up beside him.

“My mom came back early,” He began, not looking at me. “She said she was having separation anxiety so she stayed home with Trey and Kitty tonight.”

“Oh,” I breathed, remembering the conversation between me and Nixon last night. He said that he wasn’t sure when his mom would get home, but I guess that question answered itself. “So you want to be a doctor?”

“Pediatrician, but yes—it’s the same thing basically.” He said hesitantly.

“What drew you into that? The whole ‘doctor’ thing?”

“Just because of what Katherine has gone through,” He started, filling out a contact information form. “I want kids to know that there is someone out there that is willing to help.”

“That’s admirable.” I commented. In such a short amount of time I’ve learned about Isaac and his past, what he has been through. Maybe Isaac wants to be a doctor, not just because of his sister, but because of his experiences as well.

“I’m guessing you’re not here to plan the route for your future.” Isaac half joked, moving along to other tables.

“You know I wanted to be an architect before the whole thing happened, but then I couldn’t because—.”

“The fame.” He cut in.

“Yeah,” I whispered. “I’ve experimented in a bunch of different things, though.”

“Didn’t love anything enough to stay with it?”

“No, I—I loved it all, but what about— what about you?” I stammered, trying to lighten the mood. “Do you have anything else in mind of what you want to do?”

“I don’t wanna talk—I don’t wanna talk about my future, Penner,” He admitted, turning away from the table to face me for the first time during the conversation. “Everything you’re saying is making it clear that you’re not gonna be in it.”

“Isaac, it’s not that I don’t wanna be in it.”

“You can’t, I get it,” Isaac snapped, trying to get me to see things from his point of view. “We’ve tried and things just didn’t work out. I heard you the first time and I appreciate you watching out for me but, please if you’re gonna leave then just go.”

This isn’t what I wanted to happen. I wanted him to know that I was here for him, I’ve felt like this from the first moment I met him. I didn’t mean to drive us apart, that wasn’t my intention.

“Hide me.” Rebekah appeared, breaking up the two of us.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Ian has landed.”

“Ian’s here?”

“Rebekah,” Ian called, making his way over to the three of us. “Are you dodging me?”

“It’s a form of self-defense.” Her tone obviously annoyed.

“Rebekah, why don't you and Isaac go somewhere else?” I offered, giving Isaac a trusting look.

“Let’s go.” Rebekah placed her hand on Isaac’s back to guide him out of the room and leaving me alone with Ian.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, standing directly in front of him.

“Your sister asked me the same thing and I’ve told her that I’m just being a part of the community.” He smirked.

“You need to leave Rebekah alone before certain actions need to be taken.” I threatened, at least tried to anyway.

“Why don’t you go and talk to what’s his name, Zach?” Mr. Reed was standing with a student and his parents, probably talking about college and the history department. “He seems to be a little too close with Rebekah if you ask me.”

“Okay, Ian—.”

“Actually you know what I should probably go,” He interrupted. “I’ve always hated career night when I was your age.” His eyebrows curved when he smiled at me before leaving the room, hopefully the building—and the town.

(Morgan’s P.O.V)

“What are you doing?” Jai laughed as I pulled him by the arm, showing him my career interests after high school.

“Following my future,” I stopped in front of a large banner. “There it is.”

“Broadcast journalism?”

“Yes broadcast journalism,” I grinned, watching as his face scrunched together. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You don’t even read the paper.” He tried joking, but I didn’t find it funny.

“Jai, you can at least pretend that you’re happy for me.” I became serious, leaving him at the booth hoping, just hoping that he would come chasing after me.

(Nixon’s P.O.V)

“What do you want?” Grayson spit as I came up to the same table as him.

“Uh, I’m just surprised to see you here,” I tried joking. “Art usually involves culture and culture involves well, not you.” I smiled, spotting a growl on his face.

“Go to hell.” His face blank.

“I didn’t know you drew.” I noticed one of his sketches in a portfolio on the art club display.

“It’s an elective.” He tried to explain.

“I think its good stuff,” I began. “You like graphic, because that's kinda my thing.” My interest level was obviously higher than Grayson’s considering that he had his face in his phone in the whole time I was talking.

“Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?”

“Well, it's just something else we have in common.” I explained.

“What’s the other thing?” He asked rhetorically, putting his phone in his pocket. “Hannah? You want to hang out because we did the same chick?” My blood began to boil. If I knew anything about Hannah was that she is an honest, caring person and to see Grayson talking about her like that made me want to punch him in the face.

“Go be friends with one of the many other guys that she screwed, there is no shortage of them.” He finished, making me snap. I clenched my fists together and grabbed onto the collar of his shirt, pushing him up against the lockers.

Grayson pushed against my stomach as hard as he could, making me fall to the ground. He climbed on top of me and began to throw punches at my jaw and one at my nose, but that was before Mr. Reed was pulling Grayson off of me and holding him back.

“Alright, work it out tough guy.” Mr. Reed mumbled to Grayson. I looked at Zach who glanced at me on the ground. I quickly stood up, checking my face that thankfully didn’t have any blood coming from it.

“You two, follow me.” The Sherriff said, pointing at the two of us.

“Pardon me, Sherriff,” Mr. Reed initiated, making Grayson’s dad stop and turn around.  “Where are you taking them?”

“I’m gonna talk to them,” His grip on Grayson’s shoulder noticeably got tighter. “All fights should end in handshakes, don’t you think?” The Sherriff pulled the both of us along, to where I don’t know.

“Okay, let’s get this out of your system,” He said, pushing the both of us behind the school weight room outside of the gym. “Go ahead.”

“You want us to what?” I gasped, not understanding what the Sherriff was getting at.

“I’m not gonna fight him, dad.” Grayson said calmly, looking at me out of the corner of his eye underneath the light of the lamp posts.

“I don’t think so, sir.”

“You don't fight in there like pansies,” I could see his gun sitting in his holster, making me a bit nervous because his actions aren’t making any sense. “You take it outside, fight your battles like men, and move on. That was the best lesson my dad ever taught me.”

“Stop dad, I’m not going to do it.” Grayson protested.

“That's not gonna happen.” I agreed.

“I said fight!” His dad shouted, practically growling at the pair of us.

“What’s going on out here?” Once again, Mr. Reed was butting in again. It’s not like I didn’t appreciate him intervening in this situation but, I want to fight my own battles without the help of someone older than me.

“Just letting these two kids work it out,” Tom lied, grinning at Zach. “We’re good here you can go back inside.”

“I don’t wanna go back inside,” He stepped closer to me, trying to get whatever this was under control. “What I want is an answer to my question. What’s going on out here?” He tried again.

“Who do you think you’re talking to? Do I look like a student?”

“You look like a full grown man with raging daddy issues.” My jaw dropped to the ground at Mr. Reed’s comment. I noticed that Grayson was laughing underneath his breath, probably because the statement was true.

“You don't talk to me like that,” His politeness vanished. “I can have your job like this.” He warned, snapping his fingers together.

“Ah, you do that but, then it will be you and me in this spot and we’ll be working things out. You cool with that?” Zach said, keeping his ground, not showing any kind of weakness.

“You just marked yourself.” The Sherriff informed, pushing Grayson’s shoulder to indicate that the Moseley family was leaving.

“You all right?” He asked, clamping his hand on my arm. I simply nodded and left the scene as if nothing had happened.

“Hey!” I yelled after Grayson, whose dad was nowhere in sight.

“What do you want?” He growled.

“I—I thought that was strange with your dad, what he did,” His lips were pressed tight together in a line. “Is that— is that what you gotta go through, because I get it.” I sympathized, until Grayson’s fist met my cheek once again. “What’s your problem?” I shouted, touching the spot where he punched me.

“Look, I don’t need your pity.”

“Seriously, you don’t have to be like this.”

“You know why I’m like this?” I took a step back, hoping that he wouldn’t start hitting me again. “When your ass didn’t show up last night we almost lost the deal. Hannah had to steal money from Jai in order to pay Damon all his money.”

“Is that what this whole thing is about?” I wondered. “Or is this about your relationship with your dad?”

“I don’t know okay,” He started walking away from the situation. “I don’t know.”

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

Nixon and I got back from the school after 8PM, Katherine was already in bed and Trey was, as always, glued to the TV. Nixon bolted up to his room after acknowledging our mom was back and I walked into the kitchen, wanting to get something off my chest.

“Mom why are back early?” I blurted as she was casually sitting at the table, sipping on some tea.

“I missed you.” She responded.

“What’s the real reason?” I asked, knowing that my mom could handle being away from us for more than four days.

“You know, we’re all really worried about you.”

“And that means what exactly?” I gulped, leaning against the counter as I waited for her to continue.

“Honey,” She sighed. “Everyone sees that you’re starting to get back to your old ways again.”

“And you think that I don’t see it!” I finally snapped, admitting what everyone was trying to get me to do for days now.

“I feel on edge constantly and no matter what I do it just gets worse and worse every day! This part of me has ruined everything I had with Penner, and my friends, and my life and I can’t do anything to fix it!” I broke into a sob for the second time that day, reaching the point where I needed someone to help me.

“I know, dear,” She soothed, grabbing me into a hug that I tried to fight off, but she held onto me tighter. “That’s why I’m here. I’m here now.”

(Morgan’s P.O.V)

After the career night I decided not to go home. I knew I was going to get ambushed about why I was home so early and why I was in a bad mood. So instead I went to the diner and stayed until there was only about ten people, still sitting in their booth just chatting the night away.

“It’s Morgan right?” A deep voice announced from the counter.

“John.” I responded, picking my head up and dropping the towel in my hand.

“What are you doing here on a Friday night?” He asked, playing with a saltshaker.

“I’m waiting for someone to realize that I am trying my best to be there for him,” I leaned my elbows on the counter, watching as John’s eyes examined my face. “I just wish that he would be there for me, too.” I sighed, not being able to help thinking about what Jai was doing right about now.

“Why isn’t he?”

“When you know the answer, come look for me and I’ll give you a million dollars,” I joked, seeing as he was nodding in agreement. “Coffee?” I asked, pulling out a cup for him, hoping that tomorrow is going to be better than today.


	23. Saturday, Sept. 22nd: Keep Your Heart In The Sky

(Isaac's P.O.V)

I was awake. For the first time in what felt like a century my mind wasn’t cloudy. I didn’t have a huge weight on my shoulder and I wasn’t constantly fearing what I might do next. I was thinking rationally and wasn’t going to do random things on an impulse.

So when I lay awake at 8AM I didn’t hate the whole world I lived in. I didn’t drag myself out of bed and down the stairs to breakfast. I didn’t ignore my brother when he started talking about his friend Matt. I didn’t want to go back to my old ways after my own mother was trying her hardest all night to understand why my switched flipped in the first place.

“So there’s this bachelor raffle thing today,” My mom mentioned, passing the cereal over to Nixon. “I feel like I haven’t gotten to meet everyone in town yet. Would you be mad if I went, because I know I just got back—.”

“Are you trying to meet other people as in friends or—.”

“Oh, Isaac please.” She pushed on my shoulder, causing my brother to chime in.

“I would’ve asked the same thing, mom,” He took a sip of his juice. “There’s going to be single men who are being bought by the women of this town and you’re going to make friends?” His eyebrows raised.

“It sounds worse when you say it out loud.”

“I don’t think anyone is going to think anything of it.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” She nodded. “If your father can make friends I sure can too.”

“What about you and the Barkers?” I asked.

“Enough okay, this sound too much like high school for me,” Nixon slid out of his chair. “I’m going to my room.” He up and left the table, not even clearing his bowl and washing it out in the sink.

“What was that all about?” She wondered.

I shrugged, but from across the table I saw Trey’s eyes light up when he heard the Spiderman cartoon theme song playing from the living room. He left after scarfing down his breakfast in what seemed like one whole bite. My mom almost made him come back, but let him go watch TV anyway.

“How’s Trey’s practices going?” My mom started, giving Katherine a piece of toast.

“He told me he likes it, but he only talks about his friend Matt.”

“Matt?” Her attention on my sister, signing something to her about our dad.

“He’s like his best friend,” My eyebrows scrunched together, a little confused on what he actually was. “He’s in Trey’s class and on his basketball team, I mean I’ve never even met him before.”

“And what about Kitty? Has she talked about kids at her daycare?”

“She said something about some kid named Miles. I think if I remember right he’s Jai’s younger brother,” She nodded for me to continue. “He’s not deaf or anything, but she said that he always gives her his blue crayon when other kids take them from her.”

“Oh, well that’s not okay,” Her tone very serious. “I’m going to have to talk to Rebekah about that.”

“Mom that’s not going to change anything,” I set my fork down on the table. “People are still going to do it, no matter what anyone has to say about it.” My words reminded me of Nixon’s situation. He’s never going to stop doing whatever it is he’s doing just because someone tells him to. He’s got to want to do it for himself.

But then again the same rules have to apply for me as well. I need to realize what I’ll lose if I don’t start changing now.

“Well, how are you doing?”

“I’m making it through.”

“When’s the last time you wrote in your journal.”

“Maybe three years ago, when you first took me to see Elena.”

“Did it work for you then?” I shrugged, but nodded my head along with it. “I would give another go at it.” I swallowed hard, before gulping down all my juice and going up to my room.

I sat on my couch for a while in silence, debating whether or not to write in it again. I never liked writing in it because if I had to resort to that, I meant that I had gone back to that place again. But then I thought about what harm it would do if I did just pick up the pen tat was sitting there. I thought for about an hour until I decided that there wasn’t a need to do it just yet. Not at this moment anyway.

(Rebekah’s P.O.V)

It was nearing 3PM by the time Penner and I arrived at the raffle. Usually not many people from town would approach my brother and ask for autographs and pictures, but I think people came from out of town to see him.

Of course he’s always nice when fans interact with him, but he always says that he just wants to go somewhere without being followed by girls screaming at him. Then again I always tell him that this is what you wanted and he needs to know that everything in life isn’t going to be perfect.

As we helped direct people to different tables, the mayor’s wife rang throughout the square.

“Tickets for the raffle are now on sale,” Kelsey Barker’s voice echoed over Capitol Park. “All proceeds benefit the annual Founder's Day festivity.”

“History teacher three o’ clock.” Penner warned. I glanced to my left, noticing Zach walking towards the both of us.

“How do I look?” I asked, making sort eye contact with him as he was getting closer.

“Like trash.” My jaw dropped at my brother’s sarcasm. I reached out and punched his shoulder as he abandoned me with his teacher.

“I was looking for you.” Zach announced.

“Here I am,” I smiled, taking an end of a table cloth in between my fingers. “That's a good look for you.”

“What? Uncomfortable and embarrassed?” He said, playing with the collar of his jacket.

“Yep, that's— that's the one.” I agreed, clearing my throat.

“Do you want to get a drink?” He asked.

“Sure.” I nodded.

“Okay.” He turned to lead me to the table with the drinks, but then someone grabbed my arm and stopped me in my tracks.

“Rebekah, dear there you are!” Kelsey sighed, her blonde hair perfectly cut at her shoulders. “Will you walk to the diner to grab more supplies from Larissa? Okay, thank you so much.” I opened my mouth to try and stop her from walking away, but it was too late.

“Here, I’ll come with.” Zach offered. As we made our way down a block and across the street I decided to make a conversation after some of our last ones weren’t all that great.

“Are you excited for today?” I joked, knowing that he was dying inside. Larissa let the both of us back into in kitchen to grab everything Kelsey asked for.

“I don't know, it's just weird that I’m being given away like a Sandals vacation.” He laughed under his breath as I started piling items in my arms.

“In this town, fundraising is like indentured enslavement which means you don't have a choice,” My hands started to become full of plates and eating utensils. “Besides, you're a bachelor and you're eligible.”

“Here, let me help you with this.” He offered, reaching to the top shelf to grab more napkins. We’ve grabbed extra cups, napkins, plates— pretty much anything that can keep us from coming back to the diner again. But then I got to thinking that leaving the raffle for a few moments here and there wouldn’t be that bad either.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

I stood patiently waiting for my sister to find me in the crowd of what seemed like every woman in Camden. But after I eyed the people standing around me, I thought I saw Isaac’s mom and sister weaving through the park and occasionally stopping to talk.

“So when do you leave?” Isaac asked as he came from my left.

“Huh?”

“That came out sounding like I _wanted_ you to leave,” He tried laughing it off. “I meant when are you leaving for New York?”

“Oh,” I breathed. “Tomorrow night.” I said as people started clapping, signaling that the event is starting. I spotted two empty seats while Isaac followed behind me closely.

“You know, you look nice.” Isaac whispered, sitting down next to me while bachelor #1 was beginning to speak.

“Thank you,” I was still confused about why he was with Jason Brewer last night, but I didn’t want him to know that it was bugging me. “I’m surprised you’re here to be honest.”

“I felt like this could do me some good,” His eyes going up to the stage in the park. “Being involved with everyone instead of letting my mind eat away at itself.”

“That sounds like a good plan.” I mumbled.

“Listen Penner, about last night—.”

“It's cool,” I interrupted. “I mean, Jason’s always had the rep of being a looker.” I explained, not giving him any eye contact. I was hoping that he wouldn’t find my outburst as a sign of jealousy.

“We were just talking,” He defended. I noticed he didn’t turn to look at me, so that’s when I moved slightly to get a glance at his blank expression. “Actually he was just talking, he doesn’t ever seem to shut up.”

“Oh- well that’s Jason for ya.” I cleared my throat, trying to not look like a total idiot for assuming something was going on between the two of them.

“It wasn't at all what it looked like.”

“Well, that's good.” I simply nodded, waiting for Kelsey Barker to finish the interview before Mr. Reed came onto the stage.

“And what do you do, Bachelor #1?” The Mayor’s wife asked.

“Yeah, I'm an electrician.” His voice coming out a bit unintelligent, but I thought his hair was the only thing going for him. Isaac still sat motionless next to me, and every now and then I would look over at him, just to see what he was doing.

“Well, isn't that wonderful, we could always use more electricians,” She tried making the crowd more interested before giving up on the man and moving on. “Alright then, next we have ‘Zach Reed,’” Cheers and hollers from the crowd of women had me searching to see how Rebekah was reacting, but she wasn’t anywhere to be found. “What do you do, Zach?”

“I'm a teacher at Camden High.” His posture was obvious that he was uncomfortable, but out of nowhere Isaac got out of his chair without warning and leaving out the back of the crowd.

“Oh, beauty and brains, ladies this one's a keeper,” Kelsey’s voice boomed through the park as I tried to follow with my eyes were Isaac was heading off to, but I lost him through all of the people behind me. “What do you teach?”

“History.”

“Oh, well give us a fun fact about Camden, something wild.” She shoved the microphone in his face, looking a little too eager.

“Uh, w-well—.” Zach stuttered, the question catching him off guard.

“He's probably saving the best stories for his date,” She looked out towards the crowd, making the women around me laughed. “Do you have any hobbies, like to travel?”

“Oh, yeah,” I could see his eyes glowing under the light of the sun. “Miami, Chicago, although a couple years ago, I was in Pennsylvania, finishing up my degree on the Penn State campus, actually.”

“Well thank you Zach for sharing with us, but I think it’s time to move onto the next bachelor.” Kelsey cut him off, gesturing for Mr. Reed to walk off the stage. While an awkward slow clap rang throughout Capitol Park the third bachelor made his way in front of all the women.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

After finishing up coupling the bachelors with the lucky winner, the diner was hosting an after party where they were going to sit and get to know each other. Just as everyone was walking over to the diner my mom texted me, telling me that she was taking Katherine and Trey home. She was going to let Nixon stay out because he’d been acting better, but that meant I had to look out for him the rest of the night.

“Who did you score?” I nudged on Mr. Reed’s shoulder as he sat alone at the bar. Soft music played above head, but it was hard to hear because of all the chatter of all the people in the room.

“I didn’t score the person I wanted,” He sighed. “So it turns out that this whole event was a total waste of a perfectly good Saturday.”

“Ah, you wanted Rebekah I take it?”

“These Watson’s just make you work for it don’t they?” He tried to finish, but I stopped him from getting up. My eyebrows raised at his statement, thinking that he was exactly right.

“You know come to think of it, I don’t think Rebekah is even right for you.” I shrugged my shoulders and shaking my head back and forth.

“What do you mean?” His face scrunched together.

“You said it yourself she’s going to make you work for it,” My tone was flat with a hint of arrogance. “You should be with someone who will accept you and not expect you to change just because they tell you to.”

Different people began popping up in my head.

My parents.

Nixon.

Penner.

People in my life that need me to change because I’m making their life harder than it needs to be. But I can’t help the way I am, and I think that everyone needs to learn that the ones who cause you the most trouble are the ones worth keeping around.

“Isaac,” Mr. Reed cleared his throat. “If it’s someone you really care about, you’ll change for them no matter what they ask of you.”

He gripped onto my shoulder, thinking that he would continue on with his lecture, but he placed a ten dollar bill on the counter and left without saying goodbye.

(Carly’s P.O.V)

While all the adults were inside, the rest of us were out back behind the diner— not to mention unsupervised. Although it was risky for us to break out the alcohol, I honestly believe that none of us really cared if we got caught.

“Oh, whoa, hey, hey,” I turned around to find Dean Rooney’s hand practically in my face. “You don't want that.” His grasped onto the bottle of bourbon in my hand.

“Believe me, I do.” I tried pulling on the bottle to get him to let go.

“I think you want the cheap young stuff over by the cheap young people.” He said, pointing over to some of the high school students.

“I am not cheap.” My jaw dropped.

“I never said you were little Blondie,” He ripped the bottle out of my hands and took a swig straight out of it. “Now run along.” He grinned, waving me off with his hand.

I crossed my arms over my chest, turning away from him and rolling my eyes. I spotted Jai laughing in my direction just a few feet away from me.

“Cheer up Carls, you know how Dean can be.”

“Obviously I don’t because he was being rude for no reason.” I looked back at Dean who was now sitting on a wooden bench up against the building, nearly gulping down the bottle.

“I think that was him being nice.” Jai chewed on his lip, failing to make me smile.

“Why did you ask him to be in the raffle?” I growled. “No one bought a ticket for him.”

“Because we were short and he was the last option I had.” Jai whispered, thinking that Dean might hear us talking about him.

“You could’ve had your three year old brother fill in and he would’ve gotten more tickets than Dean.”

“I think he’s in a bad place right now.”

“Is it just me or is everyone at a bad place?” Jai laughed under his breath at my terrible joke.

“Do you know where Morgan went off to?”

“I think I saw her talking with Lucas earlier.” I pointed over to the wooden fence that separated the beach from the street and followed after Jai to join our friends.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

While I waited outside for Maddie to return with the drinks for the both of us, a familiar face approached me under the street lamp.

“You've pissed off a lot of people.” Penner’s voice called, making heads turn as he cursed loudly.

“Some aren’t particularly happy with you either,” I muttered, turning my head slightly.

“I handled it really badly, I know,” His voice becoming gentle, but then coming out like venom the next second. “But I didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings, and now I see that you’re just like everyone else.”

I rolled my eyes as I looked away from him, not wanting him to lecture me about things I already know. “Why did you tell Mr. Reed that my sister wasn't right for him?”

“I didn't mean that.” I looked down, feeling defeated.

“Does that mean I'm not right for you, either?” His voice raised as louder music began playing through the speakers.

“No, of course not.” The couple next to us started giving us weird looks as we were shouting back and forth to each other.

“See, I thought you were different than that, then all of this,” He looked down at the ground, shaking his head back and forth. “But you're not. You're just a child. You only think about yourself.”

When I thought he was going to shoulder check me, he weaved completely around me that the air between us didn’t even move. If I thought I had a chance of getting Penner to like me again. I was mistaken.

I’ve ruined everything again.

(Morgan’s P.O.V)

When Lucas pointed out that it smelled like weed, the both of us looked around to see where it was coming from. I saw puffs of smoke rising in the air on my right and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I recognized who it was.

“That’s Isaac’s brother.” I whispered into Lucas’s ear.

“You don’t say,” He stuck his lip out then sucked in a breath. “Hey Freshman! Where did you get that?” I slapped him on the arm, not wanting to draw attention to the situation.

Nixon turned around and looked at the pair of us walking over to him. “Some Josh kid.” I looked at his hands and realized that it wasn’t even lit, it was just the people around him smoking.

“So, what’s got you on your downhill spiral?” Lucas sat down next to him, finding a lighter on the ground and flicking it about five times before it actually worked. “Sure it's a lot more interesting than mine.” He put the joint in his mouth and set fire to the end of it, putting all the smoke in his lungs.

“You don’t wanna know.” Nixon and I both watched as to what just happened, our mouths hanging wide open.

“How bad can it be?” Lucas asked, blowing out the smoke through his nose. He hands the pot to Nixon as I eye him carefully. “Go for it.”

“Lucas that’s not a good idea.” I warned, watching Isaac and Maddie bust out the back door of the diner. With the loud slam of the swinging door catching Lucas’s attention he saw Maddie and made eye contact with her.

I began walking over to the both of them, but then realized that Lucas disappeared somewhere behind me.

“He hates me,” Maddie pointed at Lucas as he weaved through the group of people. “His hatred of me, has driven him to drugs!”

“He doesn’t hate you, he hates that he's not with you.”

“Is that my brother?” Isaac basically shouted at the sight of his brother holding onto a lit up joint in his hand.

“Listen Isaac,” I put both hands on his shoulders. “Let me explain what happened.”

(Rebekah’s P.O.V)

It was almost 9PM when there was a knock on the door. Penner still wasn’t home yet and I couldn’t imagine who would be at my doorstep this late at night.

“Zach,” I breathed a sigh of relief when it wasn’t a murderer. “I would’ve thought you’d be home by now.”

He just about leaped forward to capture our lips together in a tender kiss. It wasn’t long enough for me to kiss back, but when he pulled away I saw fear on his face.

“I should have done that earlier.” His cheeks were beat red.

"What took you so long?" I asked going back in for more.

“Oh, this is just great.” Penner’s voice boomed from the front steps. I released Zach from my grip and put my hand over my mouth.

“Sorry, Penner.” I apologized as he walked past the two of us and up to his room. I gave a look to Zach and pushed him out of my brother’s house, putting my back against the closed door and smiling to myself.


	24. Sunday, Sept. 23rd: It's The Worst Damn Day Of My Life

(Penner’s P.O.V)

“Hey, Beks.” I smiled at my sister as I walked into the kitchen.

“Morning,” Her eyes adverted to mine, both of her hands were grasping onto her coffee mug. “Coffee's hot.” She pointed over to the maker on the counter.

“Thanks,” I sighed, reaching for a glass to try and wake myself up.

“Rough night?” She asked from her new spot at the bar table.

“Uh, rough week to be honest,” I explained. “I'm a little stressed. You?”

“I’m feeling pretty good.” She grinned.

“You know, if you're going to bring my teacher home, try not to let me see it at the front door.” I mocked, remembering Mr. Reed in my house last night.

“I'm sorry.”

“Uh-huh,” I played along, knowing that she wasn’t sorry at all. “Don't wait up tonight.” I took my coffee and began taking it with me to my room

“Where are you going?” I heard the squeak of the chair on the hard wood floors, as I assumed my sister was following me to the stairs.

“That volunteer thingy.”

“You are volunteering? It’s amazing what can happen in two years,” My sister laughed, making me tap my fingers against the cup in my hand. “Old Penner would’ve said screw it and slept in all day.”

“Isn’t it a miracle? I’m a new man,” I joked as I began climbing the stairs to my room. “I gotta get ready.” I explained as Rebekah stared at me from the bottom of the steps.

(Morgan’s P.O.V)

“Are you off today?” I asked, noticing my dad brewing coffee in the pot.

“The volunteer picnic is today,” He cleared his throat, reaching into the cabinet to grab a mug. “You’re the one who signed me up.”

“I know,” I crossed my arms. “I just assumed you’d try to find a way out of it.”

“Nope, I’m gonna spend the whole day with my daughter.” He smiled, fixing his eyes on my brother as he walked into the bathroom.

“You’re gonna pretend to be a father?” I spit.

“I’ll bring my gun if it gets rough,” He joked, but my face expression didn’t change. “Come on, give me one day. I’ve been buried at work, I’ve hardly seen you.”

“Well be warned, I’m in a mood.” I raised my eyebrow.

“Yay for me,” He sat at the bar, going through the mail from yesterday. “Did you have fun last night?”

“Yeah um— it was great.” I coughed.

“Is everything okay with you?” His tone sincere.

“I’m fine.”

“It’s just lately you seem different.”

“I’m not different, I’m fine.” I defended. Of course I seemed different. I was constantly at theatre practice after school and I felt as though I was getting out of the loop with my friends and family.

“I know you think I don’t notice these things, but I do,” My hands traced the tile along the counter. “What’s going on with you?”

I watched Grayson come out of the bathroom and give us both a questioning look. I’ve always noticed my dad being a little rough on him in the past, but it wasn’t strange when he didn’t speak to my dad for quite some time.

“You know there’s pretending to be a father and then there’s reality. Let’s not push our luck, okay?” I put both my thumbs up in his direction before I walked down the hall and slammed my bedroom door shut.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

When I arrived at the site of the new park it looked like the whole town turned out to help. Local business owners, school teachers and even children were waiting to see what the mayor’s wife was about to say.

“Today, we are congratulating the historical society and its members on their persistent hard work to give back to the community. Thanks to the plentiful contributions from the founding families, we are now on the site of our newest public park. Thank you to everyone who has shown up today to lend a helping hand.”

Amongst the roar of the clapping from the crowd, Morgan and I made our way over to the swing set to start raking up leaves. Jai’s mom didn’t really give anyone a certain job, she basically ordered them around if they had nothing else to do. I finished my first job of helping re-paint the park benches and the mayor’s wife caught me taking a water break so she assumed I had nothing else to do.

But if I knew anything out about working together with Morgan, she usually talks more than she works.

“So all of a sudden, he’s acting like he’s on the ballot for father of the year. Of course he wants to be around just when I’m trying to avoid him the most,” Morgan began. “My mom basically spends all her time running the diner or doing her part time stuff at the hospital so I never get to see her anymore—.”

“Your mom is Larissa, right?” I asked, cutting her off.

“Yeah, why?”

“Back when I hurt my nose she was the one to help me out,” I brushed a leaf off of my jacket. “I don’t know why I didn’t make the connection sooner.”

All she did was shrug her shoulders, then continued on talking about how her life was miserable. She went on and on about her brother, then about her older sister- someone I’ve never even heard of until now. At one point I just blacked out everything that she was saying.

My eyes were focused on raking up the leaves on the grass, but I could see her arms flailing out of the corner of my eye. When she took a seat at the picnic table I wandered a few feet farther away from her, but I was still able to hear her talking.

“They keep asking where I go and what I do when I’m at rehearsals, but I don’t want to tell them because then they’re going to judge me.”

“Uh-huh.” I nodded, not really hearing anything she was saying.

“I’m babbling, you don’t want to listen to all this.” She picked up her rake off the ground and began lazily cleaning up her area.

“Oh, sorry. Then what happened?” I acted interested, making my voice go higher.

“Well, I was a bitch, which is part of the way with me and my Dad,” She paused for a moment, but started another conversation. “So, how are things with you and Penner?” Her words seemed to be rushing out of her mouth. “Anything?”

I cleared my throat and looked up at her. Movement caught my attention and it was Penner carrying two full trash bags. Since he and I don’t talk all that much anymore I didn’t know he was going to be here.

In my head I was conflicted on this whole situation between us. On one hand, I wanted me and Penner to be together. Then on the other hand I was mad at him due to the way he acted when he found out about my drinking problem.

And what I said last night to Mr. Reed was mainly going towards Penner. I wanted someone in my life who take me for who I am and wouldn’t want to make me something I can never be.

“Not really, not since the fight I just—.” I trailed off, eyeing every move Penner made.

“Just what?” She weaved her head so it blocked Penner from my line of sight so I had to look at her. When I tried to duck around her, he was no longer there.

“I just thought we could be stronger than that.” I gulped, taking a trash bag and beginning to fill it up with leaves.

(Jai’s P.O.V)

I waited almost an hour for Lucas to reply to my text messages. Apparently his mom found him high at the bachelor raffle last night and grounded him. So now I was walking around alone, trying to find some of my friends. But then something clicked in my head.

Earlier, about 20 minutes or so I saw my dad and Morgan’s dad talking over by the shelter house, clear of anyone who would’ve heard their conversation. So when I saw Tom alone I took the opportunity to go over and talk to him.

“Hey Mr. Moseley, I saw you with my dad earlier,” I began making a conversation. “What was that about?”

“I just told him that if he wanted to help he could cleanup in the woods.”

“That’s what I’m here for, put me to work,” I smiled, noticing his blank expression didn’t change at my sudden enthusiasm. “Should I go help him?”

“Oh no,” He waved me off. “You know, he’s—I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Are you okay, Tom?” I asked, focusing on the look on his face. “You seem upset.”

“It’s Morgan,” He sighed. “We had a moment.”

“Is there something I can do? I can go talk to her?” I offered.

“No, Jai, but thank you,” He cleared his throat. “It’s just awful parental skills paying off in measures.” He gave me a sad smile before gathering up loose papers and throwing them in the recycling bin as he walked away. I followed his movements as he made his way down the hill, but I spotted Morgan with Isaac at the playground just across the way.

“Uh-oh,” Morgan blurted out as I was getting closer. “Longing looks are being exchanged.” I stood behind the pair of them, obviously unaware that I was just a couple feet away.

“I’m gonna go talk to him.” Isaac said, throwing down his rake and heading in the same direction as Morgan’s dad. I looked around to see who they were talking about and all I found was Penner, talking with my mom.

“No, Isaac I think it’s a bad idea!” She yelled after him, but that didn’t make him stop.

“What’s his problem?” I announced myself, throwing my head in Isaac’s direction. I noticed before Isaac got all the way to Penner, my mom dragged him off somewhere else. I could see Isaac taking in a deep breath by the way his chest and shoulders moved. Without a second thought he took off in the opposite direction, maybe going to look for more work to do.

“Don’t worry about it.” She snapped at me, causing my eyebrows to scrunch together.

“Why are you being such a bitch to your dad?” I shot back at her.

“Don’t worry about it.” She shoved the rake into my arms and stormed off, leaving me alone to finish a job they started.

(Nixon’s P.O.V)

I was supposed to go help at the park volunteer thing, but when Hannah called me and said her and a few others were hanging out at her empty house, I couldn’t pass that up. When I showed up Hannah opened the door for me, displaying the mansion like house as I walked inside.

“This place is huge.” I breathed, looking around at all the natural light coming in, making the walls look like marble.

“The perks of my dad being the mayor.” I followed after her as she began taking off to my left. I’ve never been inside of her house before, so I didn’t know where she was taking me. But when I heard laughter behind French doors I knew I wasn’t alone with Hannah. Although I knew she was crushing on Grayson, that didn’t stop me from secretly crushing on her.

“Took you long enough, that—you invited him?” Grayson annoyed tone gave away his feelings towards me. Even though Grayson wasn’t the best friend towards me, I’d rather have that then not have any at all. And if I wanted to keep these friends I knew I had to do whatever they asked of me.

“Gray, be nice.” Hannah defended me. Crystal Rooney, who I’ve only ever talked to once or twice was sprawled out on the couch, looking at me from that spot.

“Hey Nixon.” Crystal grinned.

“Hi.”

“You want one?” She asked, holding up a cup filled with alcohol.

“Umm, yeah I-I guess.” I stuttered, taking the drink she offered to me.

“Have at it.” Grayson mumbled.

“I think Crystal's got a thing for Nixon.” Hannah said a little too loud, making my ears go red as I could feel Crystal staring at me.

“Well, good for Crystal.” Grayson snapped.

I found that after ten minutes of doing nothing, that the only thing they were going to do was drink, so I was lucky that I brought over my drawing supplies in my back pack. After they were going to have a few too many, I was planning on just slipping out the back door because to be honest, I didn’t want to turn into my brother.

“Can I see?” Crystal asked, her shoulder touching mine.

“No, no, no way.” I slammed the cover of it shut, not wanting to be made fun of because of the stuff I draw.

“I want to see.” Hannah chimed in.

“Yeah, let’s see,” Grayson smirked, crossing his arms across his chest. “What’s Picasso got going on?”

“Okay, check it out.” I opened it up to let everyone take a look at it.

“Scary wizard thing?” Crystal wondered, confused as to what it actually was.

“It’s just some sketches,” I closed the pad once again. “You still draw, Grayson?” I asked, switching all the attention I had on Grayson.

“A little, but not much,” He shrugged. “You know, I’ve got something I’m actually working on. Come on, I’ll show you.” He signaled Hannah and Crystal not to follow, which got my palms sweating. Once again, I didn’t know where I was going and it was Grayson taking me there.

“Yeah okay, sure.” I looked back the two girls, who had both of their eyes adverted somewhere else.

“So Hannah lets you keep some of your art stuff here?” I asked as Grayson closed the garage door behind the pair of us.

“Not really,” He rolled his eyes at me. “The three of us have been thinking and we’ve decided to give you a second chance.”

“What does that mean?” I questioned, becoming very confused very quickly. So he didn’t have any of his drawings to show me and he wants to give me a second chance. Second chance at what?

“If you help us out with this, we’ll accept you in our group.” Wait, is he being serious? I’ll actually be in the crowd, just by doing one thing for them?

“And what will I have to do?” I asked, a little too eagerly.

“We’ll tell you when the time comes,” He stepped closer to me, his eyes gone hard. “Are you gunna be up for it?”

“Yes.” I agreed without a second thought.

“Good,” He smirked, taking the collar of my shirt in both his hands. “Because if you back out, you're gonna have me to deal with, you got it?” His grip on my shirt loosened, so I sucked in a breath and nodded.

(Morgan’s P.O.V)

After the mini fight I had with Jai, I didn’t run into Isaac for almost an hour. But when I found him, he was picking up sticks along the edge of the forest all by himself.

“You okay?” I asked, leaning down to help.

“No.” He said blankly. I noticed he would pick his head up every now and then, always in the same direction. I turned my head over my shoulder to see Isaac staring at Penner again.

“You know, maybe it’s for the best.” I said, watching Kelsey Barker drag Penner over to some group of girls.

“It’s not for the best, Morgan!” He shouted, letting off some steam. “I’m sorry, okay? I-I don’t mean to take it out on you, you’re just being a good friend.”

“No I’m not—I’m not being a good friend at all,” I picked my head up to see my dad talking on his phone and his car keys in his hand. “Where is my dad going?” I asked out loud, giving the sticks to Isaac and following after my dad.

“Look, I can’t talk here, just get David Baldwin on the phone and meet me down at the courthouse and bring the— yes we’ll need it.”

“What’s wrong?” I called from behind him.

“Nothing,” He tried. “Your mom just needs me for something.”

“You mean work?” I scoffed when he didn’t reply. “You’ve surprised me, I mean you lasted longer than 5 minutes.”

“It’s important.”

“It always is.” I crossed my arms across my chest.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized, reaching a hand out to caress my arm. I instantly pulled away and watched as he got into the car and drove away.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

The mayor’s wife, Kelsey, was showing me off all day like a prize winning pig to everyone in town. She kept telling everybody that I grew up with her son, Jai. That made me think she was trying to make people jealous because she knew me before I became famous.

And after being introduced to the citizens of Camden all afternoon, I was glad when I got a chance to sit down and just be alone. That is until John came along.

“Hey.”

“Oh,” I sucked down a deep breath. “Hey.”

“So, how’s it going?” He asked, trying to start a conversation with me.

The only time I talked to him was on his first day of school when he came up to me asking for directions. I didn’t know anything about him, and come to think of it I don’t even think I knew his last name.

“Umm good, I guess.” I shrugged, unsure of how to make this less awkward.

“Score any hot chicks lately?” I nearly choked on my saliva as I busted up laughing. Of course he wouldn’t understand why I thought it was so funny, but I wasn’t going to tell him why.

“Not really, no,” I said, once my laughter calmed. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason, just joking with ya.” He mumbled.

“Oh,” I nodded my head, trying to think of something else to say. “What’s with the weather, huh?”

“It’s global warming, man,” His eyes shifted from mine and onto a small boy, maybe around age nine or ten. His hair matched John’s, but I couldn’t see any other resemblance. “I got to go get my brother. See you later, Penner.”

“Bye, John!” I yelled as he took off too fast for me to reply.

“The guy is weird, huh?” A voice spoke from behind me, causing me to jump.

“No, he’s not.” I sighed as Morgan sat on the curb next to me.

“He didn’t randomly show up at the diner on Friday and ask you about your life,” My phone jingled in my pocket, and I assumed it was one of the guys telling me how excited they were for tomorrow. But when the name on the screen said ‘Izzy’, I was speechless.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Isaac wants to talk.” My eyebrows scrunched together as I said that out loud.

“He’s been acting weird lately, don’t you think?”

“No different than usual I guess.”

 _To Izzy: Where do you want to talk?_ I sent my text and waited for Isaac to reply.

_From Izzy: The beach?_

_To Izzy: I’ll be there in 5._

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

The sounds of the waves rolling in the Atlantic steadied my breathing. The sun was down by now, so everything at night was black—the water and the sky. When I heard the sound of footsteps on the rocks I knew that Penner was behind me, but I didn’t turn around to check.

“You know,” I started as he sat down next to me. “I’ve been thinking, and I don't blame you for not wanting to talk to me. What you said really hurt, but you were right,” I shifted into a more comfortable position, letting him know everything on my mind. “It wasn't me and I know I messed everything up with you and your sister—.”

“You know, I’ve been thinking too, and you’re right,” Penner interrupted, making me look at him. The glow of the moonlight shined on his face as he looked out at the ocean.

“I was pissed at you, but if you’re being honest with me, I’ll be honest with you,” His head turned to give me a soft expression, his eyes were gentle as he spoke. “There’s this way I’ve felt about you, this feeling I just can’t get rid of, and I’ve never felt that about anyone in such a short amount of time. Less than a month to be exact,” He laughed at the thought, making my heart grow.

All this time he’s felt something inside him, something that makes him question everything he knows, and I think that feeling scares him more than anything. Experiencing the unknown scares people more than anything. It’s like swimming in the sea at night, everything is black—the water and the sky. You don’t know what’s up or down, but you do it anyway because life is all about courage, and doing things you wouldn’t normally let yourself do.

“But if anyone in this world deserves a second chance— it’s you,” He barely picked himself off of the sand before plopping down even closer to me than before. “I still like you, Isaac— even though you are crazy.” He laughed. My palms began to sweat so bad, that if I dug them into the ground, sand would stick to them like crazy.

“No, you don't.” I sighed, shaking my head back and forth. Even though his words were the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me, I still couldn’t believe him. After all the lying and the secrets, I just couldn’t believe that he would give in that easily.

“I do,” He declared, grasping my hand in his, linking them together. “I can't stop thinking about you.” He confessed. With my free hand, I latched it onto the back of his neck, pulling our foreheads together to relish the feeling of being this close to him again.

“You’re leaving for New York tomorrow.” I brought up, causing him to back up to look at me.

“What’s wrong with you, don’t you know I’m going to come back?” He asked rhetorically, standing up and wiping the sand off of his pants. “Now, hold my hand so we can walk together.” He smiled, offering a hand out to me.

With no hesitation, I grabbed it and he pulled me up off the sand. I brushed off my shirt and pants and the both of us walked hand in hand to my car, where I invited Penner to come over to my house. His reply was getting into the passenger side of my car and waiting for me to put the key in the ignition.

When I pulled into the driveway it was just after 8PM, which meant that Katherine would be asleep and possibly Trey, too. The moment I got out of my car and walked around to Penner’s side, our hands latched together once again.

Our hands stayed that way until I opened the front door to find both of my parents waiting in the living room.

“Dad,” I breathed, dropping Penner’s hand slowly. “You’re back.”

“He got in just before dinner.” My mom answered. I could feel Penner sliding behind me to try and hide. I felt like hiding myself because the looks on my parent’s faces were awfully angry.

“Is Nixon with you?” My dad asked.

“Is he supposed to be with me?” My eyes skipped from my dads to my moms.

“You see David, our son is turning into some delinquent, we should’ve listened to him when he said he didn’t want to move here—.”

I backed Penner out the door slowly as my parents started to shout back and forth. I led him through the dark up to my room where we could be alone, but the first thing I did was call my brother’s phone.

“Why is your phone off?” I snapped when it went straight to voice mail. “Call me.” I pressed the end button and threw myself face down onto my bed. I felt the bed shift and then a warm hand rubbing up and down my back slowly.

“My plane isn’t until 9AM,” His voice rumbled through the silence. “I can stay as long as you want me to.”

(TIME PASS)

I woke up from the loudness of the movie playing on my TV. I looked at the wall clock and it read 10:27PM, which made me turn my head to see Penner sleeping soundly next to me. His head layed limp to his left and I was eager to crawl back into his chest, but that was until I heard a car door outside my window.

I slowly got up so I wouldn’t wake Penner, and I found my brother running to the front door, to try and go unnoticed. I rushed out of my room, across the way and in the front of my house behind him. I found him making noise in the kitchen and I cornered him before mom and dad did.

“Why am I not surprised?”

“I’m home, okay?” He said with a mouthful, taking the plate with him to the stairs. “I don’t need an escort to my room.”

“Oh, I don’t know, between here and upstairs there’s still time for you to do something stupid.” He rolled his eyes at me, turning to walk away again.

“I don’t need you to criticize me.”

“What should I be doing?” I said a little too loudly.

“Why do you need to get involved?” He shrugged, his eyes adverting over to the door. I found Penner standing there quietly giving me a soft smile, but when I turned around to deal with Nixon he was out of sight.

“Are you gunna be okay?” Penner whispered.

“I’m fine,” I sighed, going into the kitchen. “I just—I just need something to drink.”

“Isaac,” Penner suddenly grabbed onto my arm. “I don’t—I don’t know how to help you get past this—this thing, but I’m not going to let you do something I know you’ll regret.”

“I was thinking that tea would work just fine. It will help me sleep.

“I’ll make it for you, I got it.” He took the teabag from my hands and began to heat the water on the stove. “Sorry, I’m being smothering. It’s what I do.” He apologized, hanging his head down.

“No, it’s—it’s nice.” I smiled, sitting down at the kitchen table and watched as he made tea for me.

"I'm glad we're on good terms again." Penner smiled, starting the conversation.

"Good terms, that's it?" I laughed.

"Yeah, that wasn't the best choice of words," He blushed. "I'm glad that we're together."

"What else are you glad about?" I flirted. He raised and eyebrow and slowly walked over to my chair, placing his his legs on either side of mine and sitting on my lap.

"I'm glad that we aren't lying to each other anymore."

"Hmm keep going."

"I'm glad I get to do this," He quickly ducked his lips to meet mine. He rested one hand on my cheek and the other on the back of my neck. I grabbed onto his wrists so I could hold him in place, taking in the kiss. When both of our mouths opened for air, I took the chance to stick my tongue in his mouth. I let him control our movements as my hands moved from his wrists to pull up the bottom of his shirt so I could run my hands over his skin. "Too fast, too fast." Penner breathed, breaking the kiss. I opened my eyes to see his blue ones darker than usual.

The sound of the kettle screaming made me jump and Penner quickly moved to take it off the stove. "Sorry about that." I apologized, blushing at my actions.

"Don't be." He grinned, pecking my lips as he handed me my tea.


	25. Monday, Sept. 24th: New York State of Mind

(Penner’s P.O.V)

Today’s the day I’m leaving and still I’m going through the same routine for the thousandth time. I started off by waking up 20 minutes late, then having to rush my shower so I could finish packing my carry-on bag.

After I got home from being over at Isaac’s all night, I crashed as soon as my head hit the pillow. Although I wanted to stay with him over night, he insisted that I went home and got at least a few hours of sleep before I headed off to New York.

While I was waiting inside for the van to pull up, I found myself drifting off every time I blinked. But then a thought popped in my head from last night. Isaac wanted me to call him before I left town, and since it was nearing 4AM I didn’t think there would be a better time to do it.

I sat down on the stairs and waited three rings before his voice came through on the other end.

“Hmm wha?” He squeaked into the phone, full words not even coming out.

“You awake, Izzy?” I joked, biting on my lip at his adorable morning voice.

“Penner,” I could hear the smile in his voice. “It’s you.”

“You wanted me to call you when I was leaving.”

“It’s 4 in the morning,” He whined again, grunting into the phone. “You told me your plane doesn’t leave until 9AM.” I could hear what sounded like static in the phone, but began talking once it stopped.

“I know, but it takes an hour to get to Augusta and I have to be early for my flight.” I explained, leaning my shoulder against the railing.

“Will you stop by before you hit the road?” He asked hopefully, making me laugh softly under my breath.

“I want to, believe me,” I assured. “But I don’t want to wake up your family.”

“Please? It would make me so happy.”

“And your happiness means everything to me,” I spoke truthfully. “Just go back to sleep and I’ll call you when I get to New York, okay?”

“Will you get me a souvenir?” He asked, avoiding my demand.

“Of course I will, babe.”

“A week is too long without seeing you.”

“We can call and text as much as you want,” I promised, turning around when I heard a creak on the steps. “I really have to go now.” I whispered as my sister came and sat down next to me. Her hair was a mess, and her pajamas didn’t seem to match like usual.

“I’ll see you when you get back?” His statement almost coming out like a question.

“You’ll be the first person I see.” I ended quickly, that way he wouldn’t be able to convince me to go to his house at this ungodly hour.

“Baby Penn.” My sister clutched both her arms around my waist in a bone crushing hug.

“It’s only a week, Rebekah.” I tried to soothe her like the many times before.

“I know, but you just got back.”

“I’ve been gone longer than that and you survived,” She sniffed silently. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”

“I’m gunna miss you.”

“I have an idea,” I tried to lighten the mood. “Why don’t you and Isaac eat pounds of ice cream and watch sad movies until I get back.” Her expression didn’t change an inch.

“Will you at least get me a souvenir, too?” She pouted.

“I got you an autograph of the Jonas Brothers,” A car honked from outside, making me take in a deep breath as it was time for me to leave. “What more could you want?”

I leaned in to give her cheek a quick peck before I grabbed all my bags, and let the driver pack them into his car.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

I practically came skipping into the kitchen after only getting about five hours of sleep. I kissed Trey and Katherine on the head as they sat at the table eating their breakfast, and I was starting to feel like everything was getting better.

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” My mom asked, noticing my strange behavior.

“Oh you know—it’s nothing.” I shrugged gathering my book bag together, biting my lip like a schoolgirl at the thought of Penner.

“It wouldn’t be about Penner would it?” She guessed. I noticed Trey snapped his head in our direction.

“He is so amazing!” I shouted, thinking back to last night and the closeness between the both of us. “For being so famous and used to getting everything that you want, he's just— he's just so kind.”

“What do you mean ‘being so famous’?”

Crap that’s right, I never told anyone in my family about Penner’s double life. I sighed and stopped packing things into my back pack.

“U-uh— Penner’s in a band.” I said vaguely.

“Like a local band?”

“M-more like a w-worldwide band.” I stuttered to find the words.

“Isaac what’re you—.”

“I can’t tell you about it now,” I interrupted. “Just look up Blunt of the Fourth and I’ll explain later.”

“You better tell me everything when I get home from work.” I gave my mom a thumbs up before turning to go up to my room. To avoid being confronted by my mom asking all kinds of questions about Penner, I took my sweet time getting ready for school. I knew the coast was clear when I saw my mom drive down the road to work, leaving Nixon, Trey and I alone in the house.

“Why do you kiss Penner?” Trey asked as I help him with his shoes.

“You saw us kiss?” I cleared my throat, hoping that the subject would change.

“Last night after Nikky got home,” My eyes grew wide. “You and Penner were on the couch—.”

“Okay, we don’t need the details.” I said, cutting him off.

“So why do you do it?” He asked again, not letting go of the topic.

“Uh, well because I like Penner and he likes me,” I pulled him into a standing position. “And that’s what you do to show someone you like them.”

“Like mom and dad?”

“Yeah, like mom and dad,” I agreed. “C’mon go get your book bag.” I pushed at his shoulders as he ran past Nixon on the stairs.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

Arriving at JFK was chaotic as usual. My bodyguard, Rupert was waiting for me the second I set foot off the plane and I could see why. Fans were screaming and shoving their phones in my face so I could get pictures with them. I was only able to do a few since I was on a schedule according to my management.

So when I was practically dragged through the airport and into the black SUV, I tried to keep my head down as I walked.

“I’ll never get used to that.” I mumbled to Rupert.

“Welcome to New York.” I laughed under my breath as I waited for the driver to start taking me to my hotel. I arrived just outside the doors after sitting in traffic for over 30 minutes, and I noticed there were already fans lining up outside the building. I assumed that the other guys were already here by the looks of it.

Rupert was the first to get out of the car so he could make a path for me to get into the hotel. The minute I set foot out of the vehicle my name was being screamed from every direction and flashes from cameras were blinding me like usual. As my bodyguard helped me get through the crowd, my pocket vibrated, but I didn’t open it until I was safe in in the lobby.

_From Rico: Come to 1733._

I looked over my shoulder to see if he was in the same room as me, but I didn’t see anyone I knew.

_To Rico: How do you know I’m here?_

_From Rico: I could see you from my room._

My eyebrows scrunched together at that creepy image of Rico stalking me 17 stories up. I stood behind Rupert as he went and got my room key and any other necessities.

“1736, next to Boone.”

“Alright, thanks” I cleared my throat. “Let’s go.” I motioned for the guy with my bags to get them on the elevator, but I told him that I could take it from there.

I first took all my bags to my room before going to knock on room number 1733. Mumbled voices came from inside the door and all the sudden it busted open and Rico’s face appeared.

“Aye, look who’s here!” He shouted, making me smile as he pulled the both of us into a hug. Although it seems strange that we would miss each other this much, but after constantly being around the same person and then suddenly you don’t seem them for weeks, it’s almost like a part of you is missing.

“How you been, man?” He grasped my shoulder in his hand as he led me into the room. His grey tank top showed off his multiple tattoos on his arms and chest. That’s all Rico ever seemed to wear was tank tops, he said that if he was going to have drummer’s arms he wasn’t going to hide them under clothing material.

“Good, good,” I saw a man pacing out on the balcony. “Is that Boone?”

“Yeah he get here after I did.”

“Who’s he talking to?” I asked, a water bottle being thrown in my direction.

“Elsie,” I nodded. “Her flight got delayed, something about fog, I think.”

“Where’s your sister at?” I wondered, making a conversation.

“Carmen’s been in the bathroom the second she walked through the door.” He pointed to the general direction. I looked out the large window again and Boone noticed I’d arrived. He said a few quick words before closing the phone and sliding the door open.

“Penn, what’s up?” His pearly white teeth glowed as he grabbed the both of us in for a hug. Boone was like a brother to me, and I found that I was closer to him than I was with Zander or Rico.

“It’s good to see you, B.”

“Open the door asswipe!” A voice shouted from the hallway after repeated banging on the door.

“What the hell was that?” Carmen announced as she stuck her head out of the bathroom. “Penner.” She acknowledged my presence as I waved at her across the room.

“I got it.” Rico muttered, smiling as everyone knew Zander was here.

“What’s up bitches!” He exclaimed, giving each of us bro-hugs. Meena, Zander’s girlfriend and YouTube sensation, was embracing Carmen and having a conversation of their own.

“Look at that!” Rico started. “Zander’s last to show up, as always.”

“Were you expecting it to be different this time?” I asked rhetorically.

“Hey B, you owe me how much? Ten bucks was it?” Boone grunted as he ripped out his wallet and pulled out the money. I assumed that they’d bet on who would show up last, me or Zander. “That’s right, pay up.”

“You’re unbelievable.” Boone complained.

“Excuse me, boys,” Meena said. “But where is Elsie?” She asked.

“Yeah, Boone what color did she dye her hair this time? I hope it’s better than that nasty yellow—.”

“Zander!” Meena punched him in the arm. I turned my eyes over to Boone who had an eyebrow raised at Zander’s unnecessary comment. But without a word, he got out of his chair and out of Rico’s room.

“What a great way to start the week.” I smiled sarcastically, noticing the awkward staring back and forth around the room. I excused myself from the room and knocked on Boone’s door, waiting for him to open it.

“If you’re coming to apologize, save it,” His voice could be heard from inside the door, ripping it open in anger. “I thought you were Zander.” He apologized, letting me in his room.

“I don’t think he’ll apologize anytime soon.”

“This is why I hate bringing Elsie with me.” He whispered.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean Carmen and Meena are the greatest friends and she always talks about seeing them,” I nodded for him to continue. “But Zander has this grudge or something against her, and I don’t get why he just can’t accept her like you and Rico can.”

That was the thing with Zander. I don’t know why, but he never like Elsie, probably because he thought she was fake— like her hair and her eyelashes. From the day I first met Zander he was never afraid to speak his mind and tell people what he was feeling.

“Rico and I can see the way you look at her,” I admitted. “Zander is caught up in his own world and everyone knows that, and that makes him not able to see what we see.” I watched as he thought about what I just said, but as he was about to say something a knock came from the door.

I look through the peephole to see who was there, unlike Boone, and opened the door to a familiar face. “We’ve got about 30 minutes before we need to leave.” Rico said.

“Okay, thanks for letting us know,” Rico gave a sad smile and headed back to his room. “I’m gunna go unpack before he leave.” I patted his shoulder and went one room over, and closing the door behind me.

(Morgan’s P.O.V)

After the news of my mom and dads divorce, I didn’t want to talk or be around anyone. I felt my life suffocating around me with the play, and schoolwork, and helping at the diner, plus I now have to bring in added family drama on top of what is already there.

“What are you reading?” I quickly pushed my script to my chest and closed it. Jai was standing over my right shoulder, looking down to see what I was doing.

“Oh, Jai you scared me.” I laughed, trying to distract him from watching me shove the packet in my book bag.

“You don’t need to put it away.”

“No, no I was done anyway.” I lied.

“That assignment Mr. Taylor gave us over the weekend is really killing me.” He whined.

“Did you even read the book?” I followed along with the conversation.

“It’s not my fault the school makes us do things that we will never use in our lives.” I smirked, knowing the he did have a point. Most of my teachers even admitted it.

“Sorry that your life is so miserable,” I partially joked. “I have to get going so—.”

“Right, right,” He nodded. “I’ll talk to you later.” I grinned as he walked to his class, but then I made a decision on an impulse and stormed off to find the play director.

“Hey, Morgan.” I heard Isaac’s voice as I breezed past him and into the theater office.

“I need to talk to Mrs. Collins.” I demanded.

“She’s in her office.” I weaved around the secretary’s desk and into her office without a knock.

“I can’t do this anymore.” I blurted.

“Can’t do what, dear?” She asked.

“ _Alice_ , I can’t do it anymore, Piper can have the lead.”

“Sit down, Morgan,” I gulped as she pointed to a chair in front of her desk. “What made you come to this conclusion?”

“School,” She raised an eyebrow at me and I sighed, continuing. “And then there’s the real reason. My parents are getting divorced.” Those words burned as they came out of my mouth.

“I’m sorry to hear that, but I don’t see why you would want to give up an opportunity like this.”

“What do you mean, my family is being ripped apart.” My voice slightly raised in volume.

“I’ve seen how much you’ve wanted this, how hard you’ve worked for this. And I feel like you need to find something positive, like the play, to distract you in this time of negativity.”

“You know what,” I stood up. “You’re absolutely right. I’ll see you after school.” I walked out of her office with my head held high, like nothing could bring me down.

(Rebekah’s P.O.V)

It was just an average Monday morning at Camden Care. The Baldwin family requested that I kept track of Katherine’s progress, and to be perfectly honest she was doing quite well. While I was to help the other children as well, my main job was looking after Katherine.

“Hello?” I answered after the phone rang twice.

“Hey, Rebekah.” The secretary in the lobby spoke through the other end.

“Oh, Ellen hi.”

“I have Zach Reed in the lobby waiting for you.”

I scrunched my eyebrows together, finding it a bit strange that Zach would be here during a school day. “Can you ask if he will leave a message?”

“He says it’s important.” She muttered after a long pause.

“O-Okay I’ll be there in a few minutes.” I walked across the hallway to see if Ms. Belle would look after my class until I returned. I walked down the hallway and turned to the right to find no one was waiting for me.

“Ellen, where’d Zach go?”

“By the door.” She pointed with her pen at the man standing in the corner looking out the window.

“Zach, is everything—,” I started walking towards him, but then realized it wasn’t Zach at all. I yanked him by his shirt and practically threw him outside. “Why are you here, Ian?” I demanded.

“I missed you. I was out of town, I—,”

“No, no why are you at my work,” He shrugged his shoulders. “There are children inside you have to leave.”

“I can explain,” He latched his hand on my arm, keeping me from walking back inside. “Just let me in and I'll tell you everything.”

“I’m not gonna let you in, forget it.”

“Come on, Bekah,” I tried to fight out of his grasp, but he only tightened around my arm. “It’s me.”

“The answer's no.” I spit.

“I know you, you’re always one step from a maybe, and a little bump to yes.”

“That’s a crafty approach, pointing out that I have no self-control.” I ripped my arm from his hand and rushed back inside.

“What was that about?” Ellen asked.

I rubbed the spot where Ian’s grip was on my arm. I looked back at him, and he was staring at me through the glass window. “Never let him back in here, okay?”

She nodded in agreement. “And what if he does come in here?”

“Call the Sheriff.” I shrugged my shoulders as I left him to watch me walk out of sight.

“ **Did you get all the blocks in there?** ” I signed to the small girl who was doing her matching activity.

“ **I miss Izzy.** ” She pouted, trying to fit an octagon in the pentagon hole.

“ **I miss my brother, too.** ” I confessed, rubbing her back to try and soothe her.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

I was rushing after school released to pick my brother up, but of course I was waiting on Nixon like usual.

“Could you go any slower?” I asked when Nixon slid into the passenger seat.

“I had to come from the other side of the school.” I pulled out of the parking lot before my brother even had his seatbelt on all the way. Although Trey’s school wasn’t more than five blocks away, it was still a struggle to get through the narrow street with cars parked on each side.

“I’ll be right back.” I informed Nixon who was buried in his phone. I had to walk about half a block before I watched as all the children were let loose from the building and running to their parents. But as I saw my brother walking, his head was hanging and his face was red. I met him halfway and caught him by both of his shoulders.

“Whoa, hey why are you upset?” I asked, picking his head up so he would look at me.

“Everyone laughed at me.” His voice was muffled by the sleeve of his jacket in his mouth.

“Why’d they laugh at you?” I rubbed up and down his arms to relax himself.

“During recess, Matt got hurt playing basketball and he said his foot hurt and I like him so I kissed him because I wanted him to feel better.” Tears were starting to pour down his face as he blubbered out the story to me.

“Oh, buddy no—.” I was speechless. My brother’s question earlier this morning came into mind, and I said that kissing showed someone you like them, but I didn’t think he was going to kiss his eight year old best friend.

“I wanna be like you!” He cried. My thoughts going back to a previous conversation with Penner, Trey, and I. The three of us were sitting in my car, and Penner brought up that my brother’s and I’s ears are the same, but then Trey said that it was a good thing because he wanted to be just like me. I didn’t think he would take it so literal as to even copy my sexuality.

“I know Matt’s your friend, but not everyone wants to be kissed just because you’re best friends,” I gave him a sad smile as his crying seemed to stop. “That’s not how it works.”

“Don’t tell mommy and daddy.” He begged, worried about how they would take it.

“I’m not gunna tell anyone, I promise,” I took his book bag off his shoulders and began walking back to the car. “Just calm down, it’s okay.”

His tears dried by the time we got back to that car and Nixon was still in the same position I left him in.

“Could you go any slower?” Nixon mocked.

“Just shut up.” I shook my head at him, looking around for children before I started my car and drove home.

(Morgan’s P.O.V)

After play rehearsal I stomped through my house and straight to my room so I could avoid any of my family members, especially my mom and dad.

I plopped my back on my bed and stared up at the ceiling until there was a knock on my door.

“What?” My eyes glanced to the door, but I wasn’t surprised when my brother poked his head through.

“So I’m guessing you heard—about Mom and Dad?” Grayson asked.

I sucked in a breath and just nodded. “Mom called me last night and told me.”

“I didn’t believe it at first, but let’s be honest I’m kinda happy about it.” He crossed both his arms as he looked around my room, like he’d never seen it before.

“How can you say that?” I growled, catching his attention. “So you don’t want them to be happy, is that it? Just because you and Dad never got along after you started doing drugs you just can’t wait to get rid of him.”

“You don’t even know half of the story, Morgan,” His voiced raised at me. “Yes, you’re right I want Dad gone, but he was always so aggressive towards me, always telling me how much I’ve screwed this family up. In case anyone hasn’t noticed the Moseley’s aren’t exactly perfect. I mean look at Harper, no one knows where the hell she is, she packed her bags and bailed after a year of college.”

“And what does that have to do with Dad?” I asked, getting him back on this subject.

“It means that he never got on Harper about her choices. It’s always just me getting nailed all the time.” His voice was almost at a whisper.

“I can’t apologize for Harper, but your relationship with Dad is on you,” I shook my head and watched him grab onto the door handle as if he was going to leave. “You’re the one who lets people in, and you’re also the one to drive them away.” My brother’s eyes glared at me from across the room

“It’s not my fault their getting a divorce.” He muttered.

“I know that.” I nodded, giving my brother a blank stare until he left my room with a grunt.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

After all the meetings and interviews it was nice to finally be relaxing with the guys for the rest of the night. That was until Zander had this brilliant idea to go out and party after the long day we all had. Boone and Elsie denied the offer and stayed in their room all night while the rest of the group went out for the night.

When I received a text from Isaac saying that he wanted to talk, I excused myself, claiming that I needed some fresh air and took the elevator down to the lobby.

“Penner.” Isaac let out a long sigh as he answered the phone.

“Are you okay?” I asked after his huff.

“Yeah, just a little overwhelmed is all.” I made my way from the elevator and out the employee entrance in the back which led to the dumpsters and the smell of cigarette smoke.

“Tell me what’s going on.” I took a seat on the steps leading to the door.

“Umm okay, well Nixon is acting out again, Trey kissed his friend Matt because he saw me and you last night, Morgan’s parents are getting a divorce—oh and it’s only been a day and I want you to come back already.”

“Wow,” I cleared my throat. “Okay, I think we need to break this down one at a time.”

“Good idea.”

“So, I think that Nixon is trying to cope with whatever is bothering him. It could be school, friends maybe even his family.” I explained, not having any actual knowledge if that was actually the answer to why his brother was being this way.

“Y-yeah you could be right,” He stuttered, taking a deep breath. “You know I-I don’t want to talk about my problems I just want to know—.”

“Isaac,” I spoke softly. “I think it’s a good thing to let someone know what you’re going through.”

“But that’s—.”

“If you keep it inside it’s all going to come bursting out at any moment,” I interrupted. “Trust me I learned that the hard way.”

“Okay, Penn so since we’re trying this whole honesty thing, I feel like the whole time I’ve known you and you’ve known me—I feel like all I’ve done is complain or drag you into my shitty life and I don’t want to do that anymore,” I was waiting for him to start again before I put in my opinion. “I actually want to sit and have a conversation about us without bringing up any of the crappy things going on around me. I see those things disappearing whenever you’re around and now I’m just rambling because I’m embarrassed that I just said any of that and you’re probably sitting there completely confused as to why I haven’t stopped talking yet,”

I smiled at his confession and pictured what he was doing right now—probably laying on his bed in his room with his hand over his face. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“You’re adorable.” I laughed, realizing how much I was missing him. I was thankful that I took this conversation outside, I knew that the other guys would make fun of how I was talking with Isaac.

“Penner I’m being serious.” He whined and I stood up to stretch my legs.

“So am I!” I began. “Okay, okay, first of all your life isn’t shitty. You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it.”

“Wow, way to be cliché Penner.” I could practically see his eye rolling at my comment.

“You’re very strong to have to deal with everything life throws at you, and I want to be by your side to fight with you.” I admitted.

“I don’t want you to see me as being weak! I’m not weak!” He shouted through the phone.

“Izzy, shh that’s not what I’m saying, that’s not what I’m saying at all,” I tried to calm him down, knowing that all he wanted was to be strong after his past troubles. “You said you wanted to have a conversation about us so let’s have it right now.”

“Penner I don’t know—.”

“Listen to me Isaac,” I advised. “I want this to work just as much as you do—maybe even more, but you’re right when you said we need to get to know each other better.”

“And how do we plan on doing that?” He flirted.

“I was thinking,” My voice deepened. “That tomorrow I’ll Skype you and we can have dinner and just—.”

“Like a date?”

“Yes, like a date.” My smile grew wide.

“Will you ask me properly?” He joked.

“Isaac Baldwin,” I cleared my throat, playing along with his request. “Will you do me the honors and have a Skype date with me tomorrow night?”

“I’ll have to check my schedule, but—.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Of course I’ll have a Skype date with you,” I blushed for no reason. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

The sound of a squeaky door began to slowly close and I didn’t have an employee key to unlock it.

“Listen I’m about to get locked out of the building so I’ll text you later okay babe bye,” The words rushed out of my mouth as I ran to the door as it shut in my face. “Oh, come on, oh you've got to be kidding me,” I jiggled on the handle, but nothing happened. “Hello!” I yelled for anyone to let me in, but then Rico was standing there with a mischievous look on his face.

“Look who it is.” He watched me through the glass panel of the door, not opening it for me.

“Open the door.” I demanded.

“Sorry.” He shrugged.

“Rico!” I shouted. “It's late and I'm tired and all I want to do is get up to my room, okay?” I pleaded.

“What's the password?” He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms across his chest.

“Password? I don’t have time for games.” I barked, scrunching my face together.

“Password.”

“If you don’t let me in now I will tell everyone what happened last year in Cairo.” I threatened.

He immediately opened the door without a second thought. “It's "Nectarines" by the way,” Rico cleared his throat as he held the door open for me. “The password.”


	26. Tuesday, Sept. 25th: It's A Circle I Mean Cycle

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

I could barely sleep last due to all my thoughts running around in my head. Thoughts about how the date with Penner would go, and what I would wear, and what we would talk about. I was practically making the entire date up in my head. But when I woke up, I reached to unplug my phone and I had a message from Penner.

_From Penn: Good morning :)_

A smile appeared on my face and quickly typed back a ‘good morning’ reply as well. I stretched my arms and legs before going to take a shower and to brush my teeth. After stepping out of the shower I realized I took much longer than I expected to, so I had to get ready faster than normal.

Once I set foot in my house, my mom was running late as usual, and my dad had already left for work. My mom gave me a follow up of everything that was going on, like where Katherine was and what she was doing, why Nixon had been in the bathroom for over 20 minutes, and why Trey had yet to put his pants on.

So typically, I was left to deal with everything, but I first dealt with Trey and got him to put his jeans on.

“We have 15 minutes,” I warned, basically running around the house to help anyone if they needed it. “We can’t be late for school again.”

“I have to potty!” Trey shouted, banging on the bathroom door.

“Nixon, get out of the bathroom.” I demanded, not wanting my youngest brother to have an accident.

“I'm not in there!” Nixon yelled from a different part of the house. I jiggled on the doorknob and it popped open. I gave Trey an obvious look and wondered why he didn’t try that in the first place. I glanced into Katherine’s bedroom and found her curled up on the floor, and when I tapped on her shoulder she was crying.

“ **Can't do it.** ” She signed.

“ **Sweetie.** ” I brushed back her bangs out of her eyes.

“ **I don't remember how.** ” My sister pouted. I searched around the room to try and understand what she could be talking about, but I saw nothing.

“ **What's the matter?** ” I asked, watching her point behind her door. “Your shoes?” I got off the floor and picked up her small shoes. “ **Here, let me help you.** ” I sat back on the ground and started putting her foot in the shoe, but she let out a scream and I pulled back.

“ **Kitty, we have to go to school, okay so let me help you.** ” I tried again, but all I got was a wail and her feet kicking at my hands.

“ **You don't know how!** ” I shrugged my shoulders in confusion, not understanding why she didn’t want me to help her with her shoes. After all, I’ve done it the past times she’s needed them tied.

“Mom just started teaching her how to tie her shoes.” Nixon announced, watching my sister and I from her door.

“And I guess she has a special way of tying them?” I wondered, seeing as my brother nodded at my question. “ **Well, mom probably taught me the same way,** ” I started. **“Let me think, I might have something to do with rabbits?**

“ **Bunnies.** ” My sister corrected.

“ **Bunnies, right.** ” I took her shoe again to see if I could put it on her foot. Luckily she let me, and I helped her through the shoe tying process.

“ **First you make two bunny ears** ,” I folded each of the laces together to make them look like bunny ears. “ **Then bunny goes around the tree, into the burrow, and you pull tight.** ” I paused so I could show her what I meant when I gave her in the instructions.

“ **Yeah.** ” She nodded, grinning as I tied her other shoe extremely fast. I helped her to her feet and took her downstairs to give her something to eat.

“How come dad’s not ever around to help?” Nixon wondered, walking into the kitchen with his back pack on his shoulders.

“He’s got lawyer stuff to do.” I explained, throwing away Katherine’s fruit cup and helping her out of her chair. “Trey, grab your book bag we’re leaving!” I shouted up the steps.

Nixon was the first to get in my car, followed by Katherine and Trey. After everyone was strapped in, I backed my car out of the driveway and took everyone to their own school.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

It was early morning, maybe 5:30 AM when I woke up in my hotel room. The boys and I were told that we needed to be showered and ready to perform and be interviewed on the Today show at 8 AM.

After being in the public eye for over two years, it’s always the same questions that get asked and that can be annoying. They’re always about which one of us have a closer relationship with each other, who is the oldest and who is the youngest, and the most asked question of all is who is single and who is taken. It’s usually personal questions we get asked, never ones asking about our music or our inspirations.

But while I was sitting in a chair getting my hair done, Zander sat on the counter in front of me, not taking his eyes off me.

“So, what’s up with you and Izzy?” Zander blurted out.

“What?” I almost choked, unaware that Zander knew anything about Isaac and I. “How do you know about that?”

“I saw you texting him earlier,” He slapped my knee when I rolled my eyes at him. “Don’t even try to deny it I know you’re tapping that.”

“No, it’s not like that.” I informed, tilting my head down for the stylist.

“Oh of course it’s not, it never is,” I cocked an eyebrow, hoping that he wouldn’t continue. “But that’s until you become ‘we’ people.”

“You just made that up.” I laughed.

“Laugh all you want, but it’s a real thing.” He nodded, the stylist stepped in front of Zander and looked at me from the front. She made some minor adjustments with hairspray before going over to Rico, who was playing on his phone.

“I don’t understand how your brain works.” I admitted, sitting up further in my chair.

“You know like—.” Zander started, but then got distracted by looking at himself in the mirror.

“Zander, focus.” I said, snapping my fingers to get his attention.

“Oh right, right, ‘we people’,” He began again. “We can't make it to the show, we'll never miss a party, we don’t like Fall Out Boy.” He explained, making me understand what he meant.

“Isaac happens to like Fall Out Boy,” I responded, but he only arched an eyebrow at me. “We hung out a few times.” I shrugged my shoulders, biting on my lip. Even though I understood what Zander was saying, I didn’t see anything wrong with Isaac and I being together.

“Like I said, ‘we’.” He repeated. I looked to the floor, thinking just about how the definition fitted me and Isaac.

“What are you guys talking about over there?” Rico asked from across the room.

“Nothing.” I quickly spoke. I’d already told Rico and Boone about Isaac, and I didn’t want Zander to know because he’s a judgmental guy. Who knows how Zander would react if he knew that I’d told everyone except him.

“20 minutes, boys.” Rupert informed, popping his head through the dressing room door. I gave Zander one last look, making final touches on my outfit in the mirror before show time.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

Lunch with Morgan and Jai was—well, it’s always the same as every other day. Morgan complains about the things about that are bothering her and Jai and I try to act like we understand we know what she’s talking about.

“Carly told me that my back pack lacked glitter.” Morgan pouted, slumping down in her chair.

“I don’t even know what that means.” Jai laughed, watching her expression as he took a drink of water.

“It think it means Carly is driving Morgan crazy.” I chimed in on the conversation.

“And she’s going to be at the party later,” Jai grinned. Morgan whined as she threw her head down on the table. “So, I’ve got a bad feeling about the bonfire tonight.”

“Really?” My jaw dropped at the coincidental Tuesday night bonfire just a couple weeks back. The same Tuesday night bonfire where I met Penner.

“It doesn’t matter because I can’t go.” She blinked, lifting her head up.

“Yeah me either.” I said, joining Morgan.

“What?” Jai’s expression was filled with disappointment.

“I know, but my parents want to do family night,” She explained, grabbing onto his hand. “After they’ve announced their divorce, they want to talk about how this whole thing works and who’s living with who.”

“You have to go.” Jai leaned closer, trying to persuade her to come.

“I’ll see what I can do.” She smiled, noticing how Jai’s mood lightened.

“That’s all I can ask,” He grabbed onto her face to give her a quick peck before standing up and putting his book bag on his shoulders. “I gotta see Coach before the bell rings, but I love you.” He called.

I watched silently throughout the whole exchange, not wanting to get into a relationship that wasn’t mine. Once Jai was out of earshot, I spoke what was on  
my mind.

“You didn’t say it back.” I muttered.

“What?” Morgan whispered, trying to act like she was confused.

“You know what,” I pressed. “You can’t just rope him in, Morgan I mean if you’re not into it anymore, just tell him.”

“It’s not that I’m not into it, it’s just that I’m trying to avoid him because of the play that’s all.” She explained, using the same line as always.

“You know speaking of that, I personally think the longer you keep putting off telling him about it, the worse it’s going to be for you.” I said truthfully, knowing that lies end up hurting you more than the truth.

“Trust me okay?” She insisted, both of our headings looking at the ceiling when the bell rang throughout the school. “I know what I’m doing.”

(Penner’s P.O.V)

I was completely exhausted. After multiple interviews and a performance on the Today show, it wasn’t hard to believe that I was exhausted after being shuttled place to place.

“This way boys.” Rupert instructed, making a path for us so we were able to get into the van.

“How the hell can you go around without a bodyguard?” Zander huffed, trying to catch his breath after trying to get through the crowd of people.

“People back at home don’t act like this!” I laughed, seeing people start to swarm around the van.

“Great shows today, boys!” Rico’s voice came from behind me, draping his arm around one of my shoulders.

“Not really.” I shrugged, leaning back in the seat.

“What's wrong?”

“I think I'm coming down with a cold or something,” I lied, trying to get up to my room for the night. “I was just going—.”

“We’re all heading out, and since you didn’t come last night you have to come tonight.” I tried my best not to look at the faces that were plastered against the window of the van, but police officers were doing their best to get them away from the van.

“I don’t know—.”

“When was the last time you’ve been out in New York and you were able to do whatever you wanted?”

“Hmm, let’s see—.” I squinted my eyes, using a hint of sarcasm. The van was finally able to pull into the street, slightly waking up Boone in front of us.

“Okay, okay, but we all want you there,” He gave me a serious look. “It’ll do you some good since you’ve become this high school kid again.”

“No, you're right,” I sighed, agreeing with his statement. “Just for a little.”

“That’s the spirit!” Rico exclaimed, grabbing onto both of my shoulders. The four of us began to drift off into sleep after the ride became longer than ten minutes long. I would say about 20 minutes later the van came to a complete stop and we were ushered into the hotel.

“Now go get in your party clothes.” Rico jokingly pushed on my back, too eager to head back out.

“Alright, just give me a couple minutes.” I insisted, trying to wake myself back up. We all rode the same elevator and departed ways into our rooms before we were taking on New York for the night.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

I’d only talked to Penner a few times the whole day. He said he wanted me to call him when he gave me the signal, but I didn’t know what the signal was. So I waited in the living room for my parents to get home, thinking about how this evening was going to go, but that was before I was jolted from my thoughts after a loud bang came from upstairs.

I rushed upstairs when I heard shouting, and thankfully no crying. I followed the yelling and found myself standing in the doorway of Trey and Nixon’s shared room. I watched as they argued back and forth before stepping in and trying to calm things down.

“Look, for the hundredth time, in the old house I had this bed and you had that bed.” Nixon pointed over to my youngest brother’s smaller bed. Trey was laying flat on Nixon’s bed, making it seem like he was refusing to get up.

“But I want this bed.” Trey whined, running his tiny fingers on Nixon’s sheets.

“That's it!” Nixon shouted, taking Trey’s Transformer action figure and going to open the window. “Bumblebee is going out the window, followed by Simba.” He threatened, hanging the doll out the window.

“Nixon, give that back to him.”  I demanded, stepping into their room.

“Don’t d-do that, th-that’s not nice.” Trey cried, hopping straight up from Nixon’s bed to pull on his arm to get him away from the window.

“Guys, stop fighting!”

“He won’t stop talking about how much he wants my bed,” My oldest brother explained, struggling to get Trey off of his arm. “Plus, he keeps pinching me all the time, hard.” I opened my mouth to comment, but my phone from downstairs began ringing and I hoped that it was Penner.

“Can you guys not rip each other’s throats out for five minutes?” Nixon was finally able to shake Trey off him, and he regretfully pulled the Transformer back inside the house. Trey nearly ripped Nixon’s hand off trying to get it out of his grasp, then jumping on his bed to keep it away from him. “Thank you.”

I picked up my phone off the couch and a text from Penner said “Cranberry” which made my eyebrows scrunch together in confusion. I took that word to be the signal and called his phone in a heartbeat.

“Hello?” Penner answered, his voice a little out of breath.

“Hey, Penn.” I muttered, going to sit cross-legged in the recliner.

“Hey, are you checking up on me?” He joked. I could hear the smile in his voice as he talked.

“Do you need checking up on?” I shot back. “I would’ve thought you would still be at interviews and whatnot.”

“I was surprised too,” He laughed. I closed my eyes just taking in the sound of his laugh. “I’m glad we got done early today.”

“That’s good,” I agreed. “Hey, have you talked to Rebekah lately?” I asked, wondering if Penner knew why she was acting so weird this morning.

“No, not since last night. Why is everything okay?” He wondered, his voice filled with concern.

“Yeah, everything’s fine, I just wanted to hear your voice.” I admitted.

“I want to hear your voice, too,” He agreed. “What’s going on there anything interesting?” He questioned.

“I just had to break up a fight betw—.” I was interrupted by a loud shout on Penner’s end of the phone. I couldn’t make out what the person was saying, so I just stayed silent until Penner started talking again. “Okay hey, can I call you later, I’m actually on my way out.”

“Yeah, umm of course,” My voice was filled with defeat, praying that he didn’t forget about our date later tonight. “Penn go out, go have fun, and uh, I-I just miss seeing you around.”

“Yeah, I miss you too,” He said softly. “Bye, Izzy.” He finished hanging up the phone just as my mom walked through the door with my sister. Katherine hopped on my lap, pinning me to the chair as I bounced her up and down with my knees.

“Hey, Iz,” She greeted, taking her bags into the kitchen to set them on the table. She came back into the living room to remove her jacket and gave me a strange look. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” I mumbled.

“The look on your face says otherwise.” She pointed out.

I shrugged, not wanting to bring my mom into my personal life. “I guess I’m just hungry.”

(Penner’s P.O.V)

Rico rudely banged on my door and was yelling while I was trying to have a good conversation with Isaac. I was rushed from my room and into a car filled my friends. We were heading to a place called “Skinny Man” because apparently Zander became friends with the bartender and he’s been known to give drinks to minors.

I was in no way getting drunk tonight. I was simply going to stay for a couple hours, and then get back to my hotel room to Skype with Isaac. That’s how this night was going to go.

Thankfully when we arrived at the club there weren’t any paparazzi to take pictures of an underage boy band going into an adult club. The inside of “Skinny Man” was practically pitch black with fast paced music and flashing lights. They had us go to the second floor of the club to our own private room so no one could take pictures of us doing illegal things.

We all were brought as many shots as we wanted, and Meena hollered for everyone to get a glass and gather around the table. With the music being so loud, a light would go off if someone was at the door. We exchanged looks between each other before Rico yelled, “This room's off limits!”

He ripped the door open and a wide-eyed Elsie was standing at the door. I could make out her lilac hair in the dim light.

“Sorry, I was just looking for Boone.” I tapped on Boone’s shoulder, interrupting the conversation he was having with Carmen and pointed at Elsie.

A smile came on his face and he handed me his drink, going over to his girlfriend. Rico stepped away from the door and back to the group and I watched Boone and Elsie’s interaction. He took her smaller frame in his arms and kissed her cheek.

Their hands intertwined and he pulled her into the room, making Zander roll his eyes. I sat my drink on the table to wrap both my arms around Elsie to give her a hug, making her know that everyone but Zander was happy she was here with us.

“Everybody has a drink right?” Meena asked, placing a shot in Elsie’s hand. “I want to make a toast.” I reached back and picked my drink up from the table as the seven of us huddled together.

“Okay, so cheers to friendship, love, and the pursuit of happiness.” We all laughed at her cheesy toast.

“Cheers.” We all said at once, each of us taking drinks together.

After watching my friends around me get completely drunk, I decided to get a drink for myself. It’d only been an hour since we’d be at the club and I noticed about halfway through my second drink, I began to feel hot and fuzzy, almost like I was going to pass out. But then before I knew it, I saw nothing but blackness.

(Rico’s P.O.V)

After the incident with Penner, we all had to leave the club without being spotted. Cameras were flashing everywhere as we tried to find our car. Boone and Zander were helping Penner walk, Meena and Elsie were trying to get people out of the way, while I was practically carrying my sister out of the club. There was screaming and yelling coming from paparazzi to look in certain directions and to do certain things, but we all tried to keep our heads down.

By the time we were all in the car and driver was taking us back to our hotel, I was seeing white spots from all the pictures that were taken. It seemed like there were hundreds of people waiting for us outside “Skinny Man” and luckily there weren’t that many at our hotel.

“Here we go,” I mumbled, dragging my sister along to her room. “Home, sweet home.”

“Wait,” She whined. “Wh-why are we back here, I wasn't ready to leave.”

“Yeah, you were.” I placed her down on her bed and went to switch the bedside lamp on.

“You're the best, Rico.” She reached her hand out to me. I retrieved a water bottle from the mini fridge and helped her take a sip.

“I know.”

“I'm-I'm sorry—I was gone so long.” She stuttered, laying her head on the pillow.

“Are you glad to be back though?” I asked, taking her shoes off. “After you were with Chase.”

“He's gone and it's all my fault,” Her eyes began to water. “I did it, I always do it.”

“No, you didn't,” I stroked her arm to try and comfort her. “It's not your fault.”

“You're all I have left,” She whispered, her eyes now closed. “Please don't leave me.” I gave her a sad smile, noticing how much she was hurting inside. I thought I was amazing how put together she seemed on the outside, but on the inside she was so vulnerable,

“I'm not going anywhere.” I murmured, turning her light off and getting in my own bed for the night.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

I think it was after 10 PM when Penner called me. At first I didn’t want to answer, but if roles were reversed I would want to explain myself to Penner just as I hoped he wanted to explain himself to me.

“You know Penner, I thought that it was going to be different this time.” I answered, making him know that there was no way I was okay with him ditching me.

“Is this Isaac?” An unfamiliar voice asked through the other end.

“Who’s this?” I replied with another question, sitting up in my bed.

“Is this Isaac?” He persisted.

“Yes, yes this is Isaac.” I answered.

“I’m Boone, a bandmate of Penner’s.” He said calmly. I took a deep breath, trying to cool down my emotions.

“Oh, I think he might have said something about you,” I cleared my throat. “Not to be rude or anything, but why are you calling me?”

“Penn told me about your date tonight.” Boone explained.

“Look, if you’re here to tell me about how sorry he is—.”

“Not really,” He started, interrupting my soon to be rant. “He was only going to be out with us for maybe two hours, then he was going to go back to his room. But then there was this mishap and well—.” He paused, but after a few seconds of silence I spoke up.

“What kind of mishap?” I wondered.

“I’m just guessing here, but I’m sure someone spiked his drink at the club we were at.” He explained slowly.

“Oh my God is he okay?” My jaw was on the floor by this point, and I was now pacing back and forth in my room, trying to comprehend what Penner’s friend was saying.

“I’ve got him in bed, he needs to sleep it off,” I gulped, nodding my head, but then realized that he couldn’t see me. “Just don’t be upset with him, okay? Believe me when I say he was really looking forward to tonight and there was no way he forgot about it.”

“Okay, okay,” I fell back on my bed and covered my eyes with the crevice of my elbow. “Just have him talk to me when he is feeling better.”

“Will do,” He agreed. “Oh and before I go, don’t believe anything you read in the papers tomorrow.”

“Why, is it bad?” I asked.

“You’ll see for yourself.” He finished, ending the conversation without saying goodbye.


	27. Wednesday, Sept. 26th: For You I'd Bleed Myself Dry

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

Each morning I wake up is a day closer before Penner returns from New York. Although I felt let down when the date never happened, Boone explained everything and I no longer felt like that. So the plan for today was to let Penner text me first, that way I wouldn’t bother him if he wasn’t feeling 100% quite yet.

“Hey.” I smiled at my brother on the couch.

“Hi.” Trey whispered, avoiding eye contact with me.

“You’ve got your first game tonight!” I shouted, hoping to cheer him up. But all I got was a slight head nod and shoulder shrug. “What’s wrong aren’t you excited?” I asked, sitting down next to him.

“Yeah, I’m just tired.” Normally I would believe him, but because of the recent events with the whole kiss, I know he’s not exactly enthusiastic about his game.

“Oh, okay,” I patted his knee, not wanting to continue on and make him upset. “I gotta find Mom.”

“She’s with Katherine.” I gave him a nod and made my way upstairs to my sister’s room. My mom was helping her change her shirt as I walked in. She spotted me and her eyes perked up.

“Dad at work?” I asked, waving at my sister.

“It’s not easy to get the Sherriff time off to have meetings about a divorce,” She huffed, finally getting Katherine’s arms through her sleeves. “Nor is it easy for me to hide that I’m taking your brothers to the clinic to get flu shots.”

“Does that mean I don’t have to get one?” I grinned, watching as my mom instructed Katherine as she tied her shoes.

“You’re 17 years old, you can make your own choices. Get one if you want, it’s up to you.” 

“Hmm, I might.”

“Okay, I’m leaving you with Katherine so you need to take her to daycare while I take the boys.” She instructed, calling at my brothers as she walked down the stairs.

“ **C’mon, we gotta go**.” I signed, helping Katherine off the floor, piling everything in my car and taking off to Camden Care.

I haven’t taken my sister to daycare since the first day we arrived to Camden, and I was expecting her to have gotten over the separation between us. Clearly I was wrong.

She held onto one of my hands with both of her small ones, not wanting to let go of me. I spotted Rebekah out from across the room as I pried my sister off me so I could communicate with her.

“ **Look at all this fun stuff** ,” I picked up her doll off the floor and gave it to her. “ **You've got markers and crayons, coloring books, and all the nice kids**.”

“ **Hi**.” Rebekah waved. 

“ **Look it’s Miss Bekah**.” I smiled, but my sister tucked her chin to her chest. “ **You're gunna have such a good time**.” I promised.

“ **We were all drawing our favorite animal** ,” Rebekah signed, reaching down to tapping on her shoulder to catch her attention. “ **Miles is drawing a dragon. Who's this**?” She asked, pointing to my sister’s doll.

“ **Turtle**.”

“ **Why don’t you bring turtle and we can start coloring**.” Rebekah turned her neck around so we could exchange goodbye’s before I had to go to school myself.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

“Hey Penner!” A voice called, a persistent knocking came from around me. I opened my eyes, unaware where I was and why it was so dark. I blinked a few times and lifted my head from my pillow to realize I was in my hotel room, not quite sure how I got here. “Penn?” I turned to sit up in my bed, but had to lay back down due to the pain shooting in my head. “Hey Penner?” The voice called for a third time.

“What?” I hollered, trying to find the door through the darkness. “I’m trying to sleep.” I whined, noticing Boone at the door after I ripped it open.

“I was just checking to see if you’re alive.” He commented. I dragged myself back to my bed and flopped on it, shielding my eyes as my best friend ripped the curtains open to reveal the rising sun.

“My head is throbbing,” I mumbled through the sheets. I felt the bed dip as he sat on the opposite side. “What happened last night? I don’t remember much,” I lifted my head up to check if the light was still in my eyes, and thankfully he closed the blinds and turned the lamp on instead. “Oh crap, Isaac!” I groaned, my thoughts automatically thinking about Isaac was feeling right now. He probably thinks I betrayed and lied to him about our date.

“Relax, I took care of that.”

“Took care of what? Will you please explain to me why my memory is fuzzy?” I asked, hoping that he could make me less confused.

“Last night at the club, you kinda got drugged.” He said flatly.

“Drugged?” I nearly shouted, my jaw hanging on the floor. “How the hell did I get drugged?”

“It must’ve been through all your drinks.” He shrugged.

“I only had two!” I shrieked, still not coming to terms with the facts. “Did I do anything bad?”

“Well you kinda escaped the room we were in and tried to party with the people downstairs, but besides passing out in some dudes nachos you didn’t really do anything,” Boone explained, but I was trying my best to remember something after I left the hotel. The only thing that stuck in my mind was the bartender taking us to our own room. “Rico spotted that you were acting weird so we brought you back here.”

I wiped my hand over my face and felt something crusty above my eye. “That would explain why I have salsa in my eyebrow,” I sighed, going into the bathroom to get a wet towel to wipe my face off with. “You said you talked to Isaac then?”

“He was pretty pissed when he thought you bailed on him.”

“You told him I didn’t right?” I questioned, walking out of the room to look at my friend with wide eyes.

“Yeah,” He reassured. “Oh and he said something about you calling him when you felt better.”

“I’m better now.” I walked back to the side of my bed where my charger was, but my phone was nowhere in sight.

“You’re gunna have to call him later,” Boone pointed to the desk where my phone was sitting. “Have a look at the paper, fourth page of the New York Times, that’s got to be a personal best.” He joked, causing me to wonder what the article was going to say this time. I sat down on the bed and opened the paper to read out loud.

“ _Blunt members having not so blunt problems. Members of the critically acclaimed boy band Blunt of the Fourth were spotted leaving a club, drunk and dazed._ ” I lifted my head to give him a confused look, but he urged me to continue on.

“Keep reading.” He said with his head down.

“ _Photographers were able to capture images of a passed out Penner Watson, being carried by two other band mates, Boone Anderson and Zander Hawthorne. Sources say the cause for this outing was due to Watson’s past relationship with Tyson Poole. The couple spilt after two years._ ”

“There’s slight mentions of Rico and Carmen, but it’s mostly about you and Tyson.”

“This is ridiculous,” I breathed, shaking my head back and forth. “Who believes this shit?”

“Apparently everybody,” He slipped his phone out of his pocket and handed it to me. “ _Poolson_ has been trending on twitter for over an hour.”

“ _Poolson_? Is that Poole and Watson combined?” I wondered.

“People liked you together.”

“People don’t know the real story,” I growled at the thought of Tyson. “Kill me now.” I slammed the pillow down on my face, hoping I would suffocate myself so I wouldn’t have to deal with the world.

“I wish I could, but we’ve got a meeting today,” He grabbed the pillow out of my hands and threw it to the side. “Crowne City’s gunna have their hands full without having a death on their hands as well.”

“Go without me.” I muttered. 

“Come on, get up and shower,” He opened the curtains again, this time leaving them wide open. “We’ve got to head out soon.” 

(Morgan’s P.O.V)

After a long day at school, Jai wanted to meet and the diner to talk about school and his idea about applying for a job. He said working at the diner would be great because he wanted to be around me more, partially due to the fact that we’ve been drifting apart lately. 

But I can’t help that I have rehearsals in the evenings every night, and  I was building up the guts to tell him, but since he was telling me about his problems I didn’t want to add my extracurriculars to that list.

“My parents can’t accept the fact that I’m not a genius,” Jai growled, throwing his book bag on the counter in front of me. “It just kills them that I’m not an honor student.”

“Hey, I’m not an honor student either and look how I’m doing.” I offered, giving him a smile as he sat down. 

An older couple by the names of Frank and Louise approached the register, and I excused myself to help them with their ticket. They always come in and order dinner at 4 PM before leaving and going home. I bid them farewell and returned to Jai, who kept on talking about the things going on in his life.

“And then my parents brought baseball into it, saying how I barely make time to study.” He said, picking up where he left off.

“If you studied half as much as you practice, you'd be an honor student.” I joked, tilting my head to the side and sticking my tongue at him playfully. 

“Very funny,” He scrunched his nose together. “My dad wants me to take and extra lab or something, just so college won’t be such a struggle.”

“What do you think?” I asked, leaning my elbows on the counter to feed him a French fry from his plate.

“Well, if I get the baseball scholarship I’m hoping for, I have to keep my grades up to play,” I nodded, signaling I understood what he was saying. “What do you think I should take?”

“Hmm, I would take an extra math if you can,” I spoke truthfully. “It won’t be easy, but you really want to play baseball so bad, I think you can do it.”

“Keep feeding me food and I’ll sign up tomorrow.” He grinned, leaning his face closer.

“You’re nuts.” I declared, pushing his face away with my hand.

“Okay, enough about me,” He huffed, picking a straw up and playing with it in his hands. “How are you doing with everything?”

“Everything?” I panicked, hoping he didn’t know about the play. That would crush him if he heard about it from someone else.

“You know, the whole thing with your mom and dad.”

“Oh,” I let out a sigh of relief. “Grayson’s never home.” I shrugged.

“Yeah, I always catch Hannah sneaking him past my parents.” 

“I don’t know, I’ll be happier when this whole thing’s over.” I mumbled, scratching my eyebrow.

“Have you thought about who you’re gunna live with?” I chewed on my lip, never actually sitting down and thinking about it before. How could anyone choose between their mom or their dad? How do you go about making those choices?

“Gray sure as hell isn’t living with my dad, but I haven’t decided yet,” I pinched the back of my hand to get my mind off reality in front of me. “If I live with my dad, I’ll realize all the things I need him for, and the same can be said for my mom.”

“Can I tell you something?” I nodded, waiting for him to continue. “I think that parents who get divorces don’t understand the effect it has on their children.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think they only see how much better their lives are gunna be, but now they’ve left their children to choose between the two of them,” I fixed my eyes on the empty salt shaker, wondering if my parents really didn’t care about what Gray and I thought. “It’s crazy.” Jai breathed, throwing the straw at me.

“At least your parents are still together.” I said, grabbing the coffee pot for the lady who sat three chairs away from Jai.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

At first when I heard that neither of my parents were going to be at Trey’s basketball game, I was completely shocked. Well, not so much shocked that my dad wasn’t going to be there, but that my mom couldn’t make it because of work.

It took almost an hour to convince Trey to go to the game, saying that he made a commitment and he need to keep it, and saying that Matt was going to be there. The last part only made him not want to go even more.

Katherine, Nixon, and I were all at his game, surrounded by parents and grandparents recording their child’s game. Across the court I spotted Trey talking with his coach, who just patted him on the back and pointed down at the end of the bench.

“What was that about?” Nixon asked, leaning in so other parents couldn’t hear our conversation.

“I don’t know.” I mumbled, bouncing my sister on my knee.

“Well, when's Trey gunna play?” I watched as time was running down on the clock and my brother hasn’t seen any floor time yet. All his other teammates, including Matt, all played throughout the game as they ran up and down the court doing their best. But when the buzzer went off, the score was 24-19, meaning that Trey’s team had won.

As I watched the boys celebrate, I noticed that my brother was sitting off to the side, like he wasn’t a part of the team. Matt was even yelling at him to come join, but continued the sit on the bench alone. That’s when I got out of my seat, handing Katherine to Nixon, and marching down to the coach.

“H-hey, Coach excuse me.” I stuttered, unsure of where I was going to take this. 

“Yes?”

I took a deep breath, trying to remember things my dad always said during situations like this because I knew nothing about them, so I was hoping that my bold comment was correct. “This isn't the NBA Finals. What happens to everybody plays?”

“Izzy please.” Trey begged, coming to my side to grab onto my jacket sleeve.

“I know, I—.” The coach started, but I cut in before he could get another word out.

“Why didn’t you put Trey in? He could be one of your best players.”

“He doesn't wanna play so you need to take that up with him.”

“You're the coach.” I said, making it seem like it was his fault my brother didn’t play. But as the coach walked away I asked myself why didn’t Trey want to play in his game? He’s been practicing so hard for this and now he doesn’t want to do it anymore. None of it made sense.

“Just forget about it, I wanna go I’m hungry.” He whined.

“Okay, go get your bag. We’ll get something at the diner before we head home.” I waved for Nixon to come towards me so we could be waiting for our brother when he returned.

“Where’s he going?” 

“He’s getting his bag,” I explained. “His coach said Trey didn’t play because he didn’t want to.”

“Well, that can’t be right because—,” Nixon stopped short, unable to come up with words to explain why he wouldn’t want to play. “I don’t know why he wouldn’t want to play.”

“I don’t know why either.” I added, watching as Trey came back to us, fully changed out of his basketball uniform.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

After another day of meetings and interviews, I wanted everyone to come back into my room to figure out what happened last night. I wanted to get everyone’s story to see if anyone saw who or what spiked my drink.

While Rico, Zander and I waited for Boone to knock on my door I excused myself to go to the bathroom. I found it odd that I couldn’t hear voices in the other room, but when I reentered the room, Rico was on the balcony and Zander had his back to me.

I silently walked up behind Zander and looked over his shoulder to see if he was sending Meena cute lovey texts, which was something we all messed with him about. But instead of sending his girlfriend messages, he was looking through my phone, scrolling through my own conversations.

“What are you doing?” I gasped, causing him to jump and whip his head around at me. “Why are you looking through my phone?” I demanded, snatching the mobile device from his hand to find that he was in my messages, specifically ones sent from _Izzy_.

“What the hell is your problem?” Zander growled, throwing the chair back as he stood up.

“My problem? You went through my stuff behind my back!” I shouted, talking to him like he was six years old.

“We’ve been together all the time for more than three years and you’re just now mad that one of us invaded your personal space?” He asked, getting in my face with his dark eyes glaring into mine.

“I didn’t want to tell you about it yet!”

“Whoa, what’s with the yelling?” Rico said, keeping the sliding door wide open as he shoved the two of us apart.

“I thought we were like brothers,” Zander mumbled, his voice going lower. “You need to get over it, honestly it’s not a big deal!”

“I shouldn't have to get over it because you shouldn't have done it in the first place,” As Zander opened his mouth to fight back I stopped him in his tracks. “Don’t talk to me.” I growled, pointing at him and slamming the sliding door shut as I walked out onto the balcony.

I couldn’t believe he would do that to me. I mean just because we’ve been constantly together nonstop doesn’t give Zander or anyone else the right to go through my stuff. I heard the sliding door open, but didn’t look to see who it was. I was hoping it wasn’t Zander to come out and explain himself some more to me because in all honesty, I didn’t want to hear it.

“Hey.” Boone cleared his throat, walking out onto the balcony.

“Hey.” I muttered, leaning on the railing with my elbows as I watched the traffic in the street.

“You haven’t said much all day,” I arched my eyebrow and nodded slowly. “Even when our manager yelled at us you were silent.”

“Sorry I’m not a ray of sunshine.”

“What happened to you last night, man it freaked us all out you know that, right?” He came up quick beside me. “Like it could’ve happened to any of us and that’s scary to think about.”

“In all honesty, I’m just trying to convince myself that it never happened,” I sighed, facing him to see he if understood. “Even though I don’t remember anything, I still feel weird—I don’t know I can’t describe it.” My phone that was gripped tight in my hand began ringing and Zander smiled at me when he and I both saw the name _Izzy_ on the screen.

“I’ll leave you alone.” Boone winked, sliding the door shut. I answered the phone, choking on my spit as he talked through the phone.

“Hello?” He answered. All the sudden I froze just listening to his voice, unable to make words come out of my mouth. “Hello?”

“Oh, hi.” I whispered, running a hand through my hair. I cleared my throat and stood up straighter as I leaned along the railing of the balcony.

“I was wondering what happened to you,” He laughed, causing me to smile. “What are you doing?” He wondered.

“Trying to figure out what's wrong with me,” I continued to whisper, not wanting the boys to hear me talking with Isaac. “I feel different and strange.”

“It'd be strange if you felt normal,” He added. “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, anything” I nodded.

“Why are you whispering?” He mocked, speaking softly into the phone as well.

“Sorry,” I said, talking louder through the phone. “I didn’t want the guys to hear, but listen—.”

“Don’t, Boone told me everything.” He interrupted, causing me to blink several times.

“Isaac,” I breathed, cracking my knuckles. “I, uh, I don't know how to thank you.”

“Thank me for what? I didn’t do anything.” 

“I don’t know, I mean for understanding,” I shrugged, trying my best to explain the thoughts that were in my mind. “For knowing that I would never lie to you.”

“Hmm, well you can thank me tomorrow.” He murmured.

“I will thank you tomorrow.” I agreed, seeing as that was the least I could do for him.

“And the day after that.” Isaac added.

“Of course.” I grinned to myself.

“And the day after that.”

“I think that’s how many days you have to wait until I come home.” I thought thinking that would be Saturday or Sunday, and I would be done with New York and all the interviews and meetings along with it.

“Oh is it? I haven’t been counting.” I could hear the flirt in his voice. A fire truck’s sirens could be heard as it drove by along the side of the hotel. I tried covering my other ear so I could hear what he was saying.

“You’re a liar because I’ve been counting,” I smiled, wanting to see his face at this very moment. “What are you going to do this weekend?” I questioned.

“There’s homecoming on Saturday, but I’m not going.” He said with a confident voice.

“Why not, I heard that they’re fun?” My eyebrows scrunched together, trying to understand why he didn’t want to have a good time with his new friends.

“You know, I’m happy just sitting in my room alone and watching 80’s sitcoms all night.”

“Really, why is that?” 

“I mean I don’t want to be out in uncomfortable situations that involve me pretending to have the time of my life with people who don’t care about me.”

“Don’t say that, people care about you.” I admitted, really wanting to say that I cared about him, but I didn’t even know what we were. We never talked about being boyfriends, so could I consider him my boyfriend? 

“Well there’s another reason.” He trailed off, wanting to me finish his sentence.

“And what’s the other reason?” I flirted, biting on my finger as I smiled from ear to ear.

So there’s this person and I was going to ask them to go, but they’re not exactly—.” 

“Hey, Penn, come here!” Elsie shouted from the door, causing me to jump.

“Uh, look, Isaac, I've gotta go,” I sighed, feeling bad that I cut him off. “I've gotta meet somebody.”

“Wait, Penner,” He rushed before I could hang up. “I wanna talk to you more than five seconds every day without you running off somewhere.”

“I know me too, but I’m really busy here,” I explained, thinking of a way to lighten his mood. “It’s only a few days before I get back and then I’ll talk to you so much that you’ll get sick of me. Weren't you the one that said we were gunna have adventures?”

“Yeah,” I could hear him smiling as I thought back to the night he said those words. The night where we shared our first kiss on the roof of my house. “W-we were gunna have adventures.” He agreed.

“And we will,” I promised. “Good night, Isaac.”

“Good night.” He finished, hanging up first.

“Hey,” Elsie said, catching my attention. The room was thankfully clear of Zander and the rest of my bandmates. “I'm gunna take off. You gunna be okay, you know with Zander?”

“Uh, no, no,” I muttered, shaking my head back and forth. “How do you know about that?” I wondered.

“Rico explained what happened, I mean you could hear the yelling four floors down.” She joked.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that.” I apologized.

“You know, uh, on second thought, I might just crash here with Boone. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” I nodded.

“All right, I just pray Zander doesn’t get pissed at me like usual.”

“I don’t give a damn what Zander thinks,” I huffed. “You’re perfect for Boone and we all see that except him.”

“Oh, well thanks.” She grinned, letting herself out of my room. I collapsed on my bed and groaned to myself, thinking about all the crappy things going on in my life right now.


	28. Thursday, Sept. 27th: This World Is Just an Idiots Parade

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

I made my way down the steps from my room and I found it strange that my dad’s car was still in the garage because he’s usually gone to work by now. I opened the front door slowly to see if my dad was waiting for me inside, but the coast was clear and I went into the kitchen in the hopes of skipping the awkward talking. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

“Hey, kid.” He greeted.

I scrunched my eyebrows together at his strange introduction, but replied nicely anyway. “Hey.”

“How’re you doing?” My dad asked, casually sitting in a chair sipping on his coffee.

“I’m okay,” I mumbled, grabbing the coffee pot to pour myself a cup. “I thought you’d be at work by now.”

“The divorce case I’m working on is on hold for the moment.”

“You can say Moseley, I know Tom and Larissa are splitting up.”

“Yeah?” I widened my eyes and nodded, bringing the cup to my lips. “But, uh, anyways I know that I’ve been busy lately and we haven’t talked all that much, but how are you doing?”

“I’m just great.” I said truthfully.

“Are you still writing every day?”

I quickly turned around to place my cup on the counter and put both of my hands on the surface. It was hard for me to come up with a reason as to why my dad cared in the first place. I didn’t even think my dad knew that I was having problems again, but then my mom probably told him everything that was going on. “Yeah.”

“Everyday?” He pressed. I tilted my head back, closing my eyes and licking my lips.

“Everyday.” I lied, not having written in the past couple days. I exited the kitchen to avoid any other questions about my life and went up to my sister’s room. When I reached the top of the steps and took a right down the hall, the light was off and I didn’t know where she was.

“Where’d Katherine go?” I asked, poking my head into Nixon’s room.

“How should I know?” He shrugged, looking up at me from his bed.

I rolled my eyes and ran back downstairs to find my dad sitting in the same spot I left him in. “Where’s Kitty?”

“Your mom already took her,” He started, but was cut off by my brothers yelling as they came down the stairs. “But I was thinking I could take you guys to school, you know like old times.”

He offered me a smile which I didn’t return. Nixon stood in the doorway to the kitchen with Trey next to him. “I have my own car, but you can take Trey.” I offered.

“That’s a good idea,” My dad nodded, getting up from the table to grab the keys off the wall. “Now we can talk about your game last night.” He aimed towards Trey, who gave me a death stare on my way out the door.

By the time I got to my parking spot at school, Nixon was practically rattling the door handle to get out of my car before I even put it in park. I watched from inside the car as he met Hannah Barker a few cars down.

I huffed to myself and grabbed my back pack out of the back seat. The air was starting to get cooler, so I popped my collar to block the wind from my neck.

“Hey, Isaac wait up.” A voice called after me. I stopped in my tracks and looked behind me to see John Tulsan approaching me with a smile on his face.

“Oh, hey John what’s up?”

“Can I ask you something?” He asked, coming up to my side.

“Yeah, sure.”

“You haven’t seen Penner have you?” He blurted, causing my head to snap to the left to look at his face.

“He’s in New York all week,” I explained, clutching my hand around the strap of my book bag. “I would’ve thought you knew about that.” I thought out loud.

“Hmm, I guess that’s why he hasn’t been at school.” His voice came out as a whisper.

“Listen, I’m sorry you had no clue.”

“It’s not a big deal I just found it strange that I hadn’t seen him all week,” He gave me a weak smile. “Anyways thanks for letting me know.”

“Sure, no problem—.”

“Isaac!” Morgan bellowed from across campus. “Let’s go, we don’t want to be late for English!”

“It’s cool I’ve got to head to gym anyways.” John mumbled, patting me on the arm.

“Alright, see ya later.”

I was still getting asked from Carly and Lucas if I’d heard anything from Penner since he left. Morgan and Jai didn’t seem to care if he was gone, but I doubt they even noticed at all because of the past between the three of them. I still didn’t know the full truth to the story. I heard Jai’s side in Chemistry class and then Penner gave me his side, saying that Jai lied about everything.

I would simply tell Lucas and Carly that Penner was doing great and he was having fun in New York. Of course they wanted more details than that because of what they saw in the paper about his band. The comments about being drunk and Tyson, who I found out was Penner’s ex-boyfriend through his dad.

I didn’t even think about telling my friends about what was going on in Penner’s life because that was his private world—although everyone knows what’s going on even if they try to kept it hidden.

But as I stood in line to get lunch with Jai and Morgan, my phone began to ring with the ‘Camden Care” name on the screen.

“Hello?” I answered, holding my hand over my exposed ear to block out the loud voices in the cafeteria.

“Hi, it's Rebekah.”

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Do you think you can come down here?” She asked, suddenly causing me to stop in the line and grabbing Jai’s attention away from Morgan. My thoughts automatically going to Katherine, hoping that my sister was calm and under control.

“Why, what's wrong?” I panicked.

“Nothing’s wrong, there’s just have a little situation with Katherine down here,” She started. “I think you should come to the school.”

“Come there now?” I gasped, chewing on my thumbnail. “It's a little difficult to leave, I mean I’m in school right now.”

“Go, we have plenty of time,” Jai muttered, grasping my shoulder. “I know how it is, I have a three-year-old, too.”

“Okay, okay I’ll be there soon.” I hung up the phone quickly, bringing a hand to my forehead.

“What if you’re not back in time for class?” Morgan asked before I could take off.

“Then I’ll be yelled at in Spanish by Mr. Wesley,” I joked, shrugging my shoulders. “I gotta go.”

Getting out of the building wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I just walked right out the front door without anyone stopping me or saying anything to me. I had under 30 minutes to get to Camden Care and back before lunch ended and my next class started, so I wasn’t going to speed limit throughout town.

I jogged up to the front door and greeted Ellen behind her desk before going into Katherine’s room. I didn’t spot Rebekah at first, just Jai’s brother Miles playing with a blonde haired girl.

“Good, there you are.” Rebekah panted.

“What’s going on?” I asked, following after Penner’s sister as she took me to a secluded corner where I spotted my baby sister sitting alone. The movement coming towards Katherine caused her to bolt up to a standing position to latch onto my leg. I picked her up off the ground and began rubbing her back gently.

“She’s upset she couldn’t find the burrow for the bunny.” She explained.

“This is about her shoes?” I wondered, thinking about how my mom taught us how to tie our sneakers.

“Look I’m sorry, but she won’t come out of the corner because she won’t let anyone help her tie them.”

I nodded in understanding and quickly wanted to get this resolved before I would be in trouble with the school and then with my parents. I pulled her face out of my neck and set her on the ground once again.

“ **Kitty, you don't have to learn to tie your shoes right now** ,” I signed. “ **You just have to practice and then you’ll be able to do it on your own**.”

“ **You will help me**?”

“ **Of course I will** ,” I nodded, kissing the top of her head and standing back up. “I really have to get back to school.”

“Again, I’m sorry that I had to get you to come down here—.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I grinned, waving at my sister as Rebekah walked me to the door and I said goodbye to Ellen on my way out.

Racing back to school didn’t take as long as I thought it would either. They just checked my book bag and made me walk through a metal detector, but as I was on my way to Mr. Wesley’s class a deep voice called at me from down the hall.

“Isaac, would you come into my room for a minute.”

I spun around where I stood and replied. “I’m already late for Spanish, Mr. Reed.”

“It’ll only take a moment.” He spoke calmly. I sighed to myself and followed after the history teacher. His classroom was completely empty as I stepped inside, but the slow sounds of orchestra music played somewhere in the room.

“Where’s that coming from?” I wondered.

“It helps my digestive system,” He muttered, sitting at his desk and fixing a stack of papers that lay there. I lifted an eyebrow and stared blankly at him “I’m joking.” He laughed, running a hand through his hair.

“I’m really late—.”

“It’s okay, I’ll write you a pass.”

“Okay, what did you want?”

“I caught Nixon kissing in school.” He blurted.

“Is it really that big of a deal, Mr. Reed?” I asked, finding the information about my brother to be irrelevant.

“Hey, he was caught making out with Hannah Barker.”

“Oh,” I sighed. “Okay, that’s not so good.”

There were so many things wrong with his statement. That was Jai’s younger sister who’s a year older than Nixon. Hannah’s supposed to be with Morgan’s brother, Grayson. My brother wouldn’t be stupid enough to take someone else’s girlfriend, would he?

“While cutting class.” He added, causing me to huff in frustration.

“Also not so good.”

“In a balcony in the auditorium,” He explained further. “I came to you before I went to your parents because I know how much trouble he’s been getting—.”

“How can I come down on him for something I was caught doing a few days ago?” I interrupted, thinking back to when Trey caught me kissing Penner in our kitchen.

“If he’s going to take you seriously he's gotta know you're serious.”

“Okay, okay,” I nodded. “I’ll talk with him tonight, just don’t tell my parents anything yet.”

“I won’t,” He promised, scratching something down on paper and handing it to me. “Here’s your pass.”

“Thanks, Mr. Reed.” I smiled, heading to Spanish class.

(TIME PASS)

All day I hadn’t heard from Penner, but even though I had thoughts racing around in my head about all the things that could be wrong with that, he’s told me how busy he is and I can’t expect him to constantly be talking to me.

Even though we haven’t been dating for a long time, I was missing him. I don’t even know if “dating” is the right word to use because we’ve never discussed what we actually were. But just imagine being around someone all the time and then suddenly not see them at all. It makes you feel like you’re lost and confused.

The minute I got home from school, Nixon bolted to the fridge and literally began throwing everything out of it. “Why are you ripping the fridge apart?”

“Do we have mustard?” My brother casually asked.

“I don't know,” I shrugged, throwing my bag on the table. “Why?”

“Dad told me he’s cooking hot dogs for supper.”

“Let me look,” I said, pushing him out of the way. The only thing I saw left in the fridge was leftovers from two nights ago and a bunch healthy foods that my mom is obsessed with. “I don’t see any, but you can ask dad go to the store to get some.”

Nixon whipped out his phone and began typing my dad a message. The both of us sat at the table before his phone vibrated with a reply. “Dad said he’s with Trey at the store now.”

“Okay,” I swallowed. “That’s good because I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Umm what?” He mumbled, his eyes glued to his phone.

“Mr. Reed told me about what happened today.”

He looked at me through his eyelashes the glanced back to the screen. “What about it?”

“Uh well, skipping class to make out in the auditorium is what I’m talking about.” I blurted

“If you’re going to tell mom and dad just do it already.” He said not looking at me.

“I wasn’t going to tell them,” I murmured, but watched as he rolled his eyes at my comment. “I was going to ask why you did it in the first place.”

Nixon sucked in a breath and put his phone face down on the table. “Hannah asked me to homecoming.”

“You can’t go with her.” I snapped.

“What do you mean I can’t?” He gasped.

“Haven’t you thought about how Grayson’s going to feel?” I wondered, watching his expression soften slightly. “Don’t you want to keep the friends you have instead of losing them?”

“But Isaac, it's a big deal that a sophomore asked me to homecoming. Freshman aren’t allowed to go unless an upperclassmen asks them.”

“Then maybe it’s a sign you shouldn’t go at all.”

“Hannah said she wanted to go with me, not with Grayson,” He explained, throwing his hands in the air. “I mean what do you want me to do?”

“Find another sophomore?” I offered, but got another eye roll. “Nixon, I know what will happen if mom and dad find out about today, but I do not want you to go to homecoming with Hannah.”

“Why?” He whined.

“Because you told me that you’ve made friends and I don’t want you to lose them because of some stupid dance.”

“Okay,” He gulped. “I might be able to ask if someone else is available.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“So, will you help me find a tux?” He muttered hopefully.

“Yes, I'll find you a tux.”

“Okay.” He beamed, going over to the stairs.

“Nixon, wait,” I said, stopping him in his tracks. “In the balcony of the auditorium?”

I watched as my brother’s face deepened in color. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“You are so going to hell.” I laughed, slouching in the chair as I sat there alone.

A couple seconds went by and the vibrations of my phone caused me to jump. When I went to take it out of my back pocket I bit on the inside of my cheek as the name _Penn_ was on the screen. The only text I received from Penner read “ _Skype me_?”

(Penner’s P.O.V)

I drummed out a beat on the dresser in front of me, waiting for Isaac to reply to my text, but instead I got a quiet knock on the door of my room. I walked over to it and look through the peephole to see Zander fixing his hair with his fingers.

“Do you need something?” I asked, opening the door to stand face to face with him.

“They won’t send up anymore alcohol,” He said with his hands shoved in his pockets. “Do you have any in your fridge?”

“Do you think that’s really a good idea?”

“Look,” He cleared his throat. “We’re all gunna have fun so if you got any just hand it over.”

“Sure,” I nodded, leaving the door open to give the untouched drinks to my bandmate. “Look, I like Isaac,” I snapped as he started walking away without another word. “He’s got this thing—this way about him and I like him okay? And I’m not gonna defend it or apologize about it.”

“Okay.” He shrugged, continuing to walk away.

“So stop your little dickhead tough act!” I shouted a little too loudly.

“Go ahead, kick and scream,” He waved me off. “I’m sure you’ve been planning you’re rant all day!” I was about to holler back at him, but watched as he ducked into his room before I had the chance.

If it wasn’t for the loud ringtone coming from inside my room I would’ve stood fuming in the hallway for a little while longer. When the name Izzy flashed on the screen, all my anger melted away and an actual smile appeared on my face when the text said “ _I’ll call you_.” I sent back a quick reply, telling him to give me a few minutes as I set my laptop open on the desk.

“Hey we’re going to my room to go watch a movie,” Boone’s voice knocked me out of my head. “You coming?” He asked from my open door.

“Nah, I’m spending the night with Isaac,” I winked, wiggling my eyebrows at my best friend. “Just tell them I’m going to bed.”

“At 8 PM?” He huffed, raising an eyebrow at me.

“Boone—,” I whined, but was cut off by a ringing throughout the room. “That’s him, leave!”

I pushed and shoved Boone out of the door. I fixed my hair in the mirror above the desk and sat down in the chair and pressed the answer button. When the screen came into focus he was looking off somewhere to the side with his hands in his hair also.

Although it’d only been a few days, I felt like I was just now seeing him again for the first time. His eyes scrunched closed as he smiled at me and his perfect grin was plastered on his face.

“Wow, holy crap.” I said, my jaw dropping to the ground and my eyes going wide.

“What, is there something behind me?” He gasped, quickly turning around to check behind him.

“No, no there’s nothing behind you.” I reassured, getting him to turn back around.

“Then why did you freak out?” He shouted, looking behind him again.

“You just—I mean you just look great and I haven’t seen you since I left, but I’m not about to stalk you on Twitter or anything like that.”

“Oh, uhh,” He blushed, looking down and clearing his throat. “Thanks, Penn. You look great yourself.”

“I think your bruise is all the way gone, but it’s hard to tell through the computer.”

“It completely went away the day after you left. Now I’m back to normal!” He joked, showing the dimples in his cheeks.

“I’m glad to hear that,” I laughed. “So what have you been doing today?”

“Well, I just watched a video of you and your band performing for the first time.”

“And what did you think?” I wondered.

“I’ve got a couple questions about it.”

“Oh?”

“First of all, did you know that bass players generally have really big hands?”

I looked at my hands in my lap, then placed them in view of the camera to show Isaac who’s grin was from ear to ear. “I guess that’s true, I do have pretty big hands.”

“And then the other thing I was wondering was why do you play the bass?”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought you got discovered or whatever for your vocals, but you hardly ever sing. “

“Well in my old videos I would do covers of songs I liked,” I began. “But I took bass lessons when I was younger so I learned how to play to my favorite songs and I would just sing along in my video.”

“Why don’t you sing in your band?” He continued to ask.

“Because Zander is way better than I am, but I still do backup singing, and plus I like the bass more,” I examined his expression. The way he nodded slowly and chewed on the inside of his cheek had me thinking something else was on his mind. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I love listening to your voice.” He boldly admitted.

“Is that so?” I choked out, feeling a sudden tightness in my jeans.

“Uh-huh I can listen to it all day.”

“Okay, okay enough talking about me,” I rushed, trying to change the subject. “I want to talk about you.”

“You want to talk about me?” He joked, placing a hand over his chest

“Of course I do,” I said truthfully. “I know that these past few days have been all about me and how I’m doing, but I want to know how you feel and we can talk with no distractions and all the time we want.”

“Hmmm okay,” He muttered, folding his hands together. “Shoot.”

“So, umm you’re problem—I mean with the drugs or whatever it is—.”

“You want to know the story behind it?” He finished for me as I wasn’t able to stop stuttering.

“I don’t want to push it—.”

“No, no I’ll—I’ll tell you if you want to know.” The words he spoke seemed to be truthful since his expression didn’t change to an uncomfortable one.

“Part of me does and part of me doesn’t,” I started. “Like, I want to know what caused you to get to that place where you turned to drugs.”

“Why do you want to know that?”

“So,” I whispered, clearing my throat and starting again. “So I can make protect you from that happening again.”

“You really want to know?” He whispered after a brief moment of silence. I was just praying that I didn’t scare him off or make him feel like I was forcing him to tell me something he wasn’t ready to share. I wanted him to be able to tell me anything that was going on in his life. And even though I had many secrets of my own, I wanted to know what Isaac’s were.

“I really want to know.” I nodded.

“Okay,” He quickly settled, a surprising smile appeared on his face. “Back in Nebraska there was this Spring Dance when I was a seventh grader and I wasn’t sure of who I was yet, you know I didn’t even know it was possible for two guys to be together. I grew up really sheltered and wasn’t sure what the world was like. So I asked Jennifer, this girl who was in my gym class, she was really shy but we sometimes talked during our activities.”

“I bet you were shy as a kid, too.” I laughed, giving him soft eyes through the computer.

“I was,” He agreed. “I only ever had one serious friend before I moved away.”

“What was his name?”

“His name was Emmett and it was one of the strangest friendships anyone could have.”

I noticed the look on his face when he started talking about Emmett. The way his eyes would glance to the right and smile as if he was reliving a memory he had with him. “Tell me about him.”

“Emmett was a kid who grew up in a foster home,” I blinked rapidly, not expecting that scenario. “He was incredibly good at soccer and he had this hilarious personality, but not a lot of people knew of his home life and I was the one only who did know about it.”

“So how did you become friends?” I questioned.

“He stood up for me,” He mumbled, looking at his lap. I was about to stop him from continuing, but he picked up on his own after taking a deep breath. “All the kids in my class were daring Jennifer and I to kiss, but something in me didn’t want to, it just didn’t feel right because I didn’t see her that way. So when she went in to kiss me I ran out the building and walked back home,”

My ability to hold back a laugh got the better of me and I snickered to myself. At first I felt horrible because he was spilling out his past to me. Luckily he was laughing along with me until he explained further what happened. “I was completely dreading showing my face the next day, I mean I was mortified. And school turned out to be the worst time of my life.”

“Why what happened?”

“Obviously I was shoved around and called names, I practically had AIDS by the way people were trying to avoid me. Emmett told people to screw themselves and he even beat up some guy who threw a banana peel at me,” I arched an eyebrow at the strange comment. “Ever since then he’s been like a brother, but he doesn’t have a phone and I haven’t talked to him since I left Lincoln.”

“I’m glad you were treated right when you were around him,” I said sincerely. “But if you had Emmett as a friend, how come you went to drugs?” I asked a little too directly.

“I’ve never actually tried drugs—well alcohol is technically a drug, but I turned to it because I wanted to fit in.” He admitted.

“You got addicted because of peer pressure?” I carefully asked.

“I guess that’s part of it,” He shrugged, starting again. “At first when I saw Emmett drinking I didn’t have a doubt in my mind whether or not I was going to try it. I mean I looked up to him and I did everything he did, I went everywhere he went. But then I realized that after one drink I thought about what six would be like, then eight, then ten and the more I had the more I escaped from my own head,”

I just sat back and let him say what he needed to say. I didn’t want to stop him because I felt as if this is something he’s been needing to tell someone for the longest time.

“I got addicted because that seemed like the only good thing going for me. I was always picked on after I realized I didn’t like girls, so I would drink. I had so many responsibilities, like practically raising my siblings, so I would drink again. And then feeling alone made me drink even more. Then realizing that you were invisible to everything and everyone around you didn’t help things out at all.” He finished with a weak voice, his head hanging slightly.

I would’ve given anything to be in Camden with him. I wanted to be there so I could hold him in my arms as he confessed all of this to me. “Isaac,” I muttered, getting his attention. “I-I won’t ever let you feel like that again. Okay, I promise.”

“You’re too nice to me, Penn, I’m stronger than I look.” He said, showing me is arm muscles to lighten the mood.

“If you can make it through that you can make it through anything,” I smiled, hoping I could change the expression on his face. “I believe in you.”

He smiled to himself, looking at his lap and blinking a few times. “Thank you,” He picked his head up and even through the screen I could see his cheeks were a different shade of red. “Hey, can I tell you something?”

“Of course.”

“Now that you know everything, I feel loads better.”

“I can agree with that,” I fiddled with the tip of a pen between my fingers. “Your eyes look brighter, for some reason.”

“Can I tell you something else?” He asked, sitting up in his chair.

“Sure.” I laughed at his repeating question.

“You’re too good at this flirting thing.”

“I’m too good?” I wondered. I watched through the screen as he nodded, grabbing his lip with his teeth. “Ugh, don’t do the lip thing.”

“What lip thing?” He gasped.

“The one you just did, it drives me crazy every time you do it.” I huffed, falling back in my chair to exaggerate the situation.

“You’re insane, I don’t do any lip thing.” He said, biting his lip again.

“You’re torturing me!” I huffed, covering my eyes with my hands. “If you were—.” I started, but pulled back when I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to say or not.

“If I were, what?” He pressed.

“If you were here I would kiss those lips of yours.”

“Just two more sleeps until you can.” He teased, winking at me.


	29. Friday, Sept. 28th: Hey Little Train, We're Jumping On

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

_From Penner: Hey, babe:) I know it’s like 3 AM right now but I’ll be really busy all day. Sorry if you don’t hear from me. 1 more sleep!_

That was the text I woke up to when I went to shut my alarm off. I’d spent all of last night spilling out my life story to Penner, and believe it or not, it honestly felt like the words coming out of my mouth gave him and I a stronger bond together. Although it was now 4 PM and I still haven’t gotten a text from Penner since earlier this morning.

So while I waited for some sort of reply, I was lying face down on the couch in my room, watching Netflix to pass the time. But instead of quiet silence like I was expecting, all that could be heard was loud laughter and screaming coming from my brothers. I groaned from my comfortable position to stomp over to the door and yank it open.

“Hey!” I yelled down the stairs. Our neighbors, the Gilbert’s, had two large bloodhounds that had gotten out of their gate and was now running crazy in our yard. Trey was scared to death of them, although they were completely harmless. “Stop the racket.” I mumbled when both of their faces appeared in my line of sight. As Trey snickered to Nixon, I resumed my place on the couch until I was interrupted yet again.

“Are you all right?” Nixon asked, coming up the stairs and into my room. “You've been watching reruns since we got home.”

“Reruns are the philosophy of the typical high school student.”

“Hey, I get it, I have no life,” He joked, crossing his arms as he gazed confusedly at the screen. What he said was true in my case as well because I didn’t have a life either. Morgan had _Alice_ rehearsals every day after school, Jai had baseball, and I wasn’t close enough with any of my other friends to hang out. All I needed to do was wait until Penner got home and then my life would have some kind of purpose.

“What is this?” He wondered, pointing at the screen.

“It's called _Freaks and Geeks_.”

“Is that James Franco?” He gasped, sitting on the arm of the couch. I was going to give him a run-down of the whole show, just to see if he’d be interested or not in it, but before I could my brother and I jumped when my mom yelled from the bottom of the steps.

“Hey, boys!”

“Hi.” I waved as I made it to the bottom of the steps.

“What are you guys up to?” She asked with two bags in her hands.

“Oh, uh just hanging around.” Nixon replied.

“Does pizza sound alright for supper?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” I exchanged looks with my brother and we both nodded. She smiled as she tightened her grip on the bags. Trey followed her inside, avoiding the huge dogs by hiding behind my mom.

“U-umm, Isaac.” Nixon whispered, nudging me in the ribs with his elbow before I could go back to my room.

“What?”

“Turtle's dead.” He pointed over to the pair of dogs who were now chewing and shredding our sister’s favorite toy to bits.

“Oh my God,” I gasped, dropping my jaw to the ground. “Turtle, no.”

“May he rest in peace?” Nixon murmured, trying to joke at the wrong time.

“Shut up,” I demanded, smacking him on the shoulder. “It’s her friend, he can't be dead.”

“Oh, he's dead.” My brother nodded, watching as the dogs dragged it away with their mouth.

“We gotta find a new one.”

“What do you mean ‘a new one’? It’s not like we can just go and buy one, I mean look around you,” He said pointing out the door to see nothing but houses and hills. “There isn’t exactly a Meijer around the corner.”

I sighed, understanding what he was saying. It seemed nearly impossible to find a replica of the stuffed animal without driving for more than an hour, but I knew I had to try. I quickly walked inside the house where my mom was “watching” TV with Trey. I hadn’t seen her with Katherine, so I knew she wasn’t home yet. “Mom, where’s Kitty?”

“Your dad is getting her.”

“Oh, okay well I’m gunna take Nixon to this—this place to see this thing.” I stuttered, retrieving the keys from the kitchen.

“What are you—.”

“Okay, bye!” I hollered, closing the door behind me and racing to my car before she could come running outside after us. “Nixon, c’mon!”

“Why do I have to go?” He wondered, making his way over to the car anyway.

“Because you love Katherine and you don’t want to see her upset.” He huffed as he shut the car door behind him and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Where are we going to find another one just like it?” He asked as I drove down the street and away from the house.

“I don’t know I’m thinking.”

“Well think faster.” He rushed.

Katherine’s turtle wasn’t a one of a kind toy, it was a common stuffed animal that every toddler had. The problem was, there wasn’t any kind of store within 30 miles of Camden that would supply anything close to what we were looking for.

I decided to go to the only place where I knew for a fact that had children’s toys—but it’s not like they are for sale or anything. Plus, I happened to know someone who works there. I weaved through the roads and along the beaches until I reached Camden Care, hoping that I could catch Rebekah before she left for the night. I didn’t see my dad’s car as I waited in the parking lot for Katherine’s teacher to appear, but when she did I almost missed it.

“There she is.” Nixon muttered, tapping my arm.

“Rebekah!” I shouted, jumping out of my car and running to stop her before she could reach her car.

“Oh hey, your dad already got Katherine.” She explained, surprised to see me standing in front of her.

“I know, I know, but there these dogs who live next to us ate Katherine’s turtle and we have to find a new one to replace it before she she’s that it’s gone and I need you to help me.”

“Slow down, you said that all too fast,” She said, using her hands to get me to stop. “All I got was that your sister’s stuffed animal was ruined by something.”

“The neighbor’s dogs tore it apart and I need to get a new one.” I said a little slower.

“Oh, uh well I don’t really know what you want me to do,” She shrugged, unlocking her car. “I don’t have anything like that inside. Why don’t you go to Augusta?”

“I don’t have time for that,” I groaned. “She’s going to be so upset when she knows what happened to him.”

“Here, the both of you get in my car,” She started, causing my eyes to widen and smile to grow on my face. “I’ll go to my mom and see if she knows of anything nearby.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate this.”

She put her bags in the trunk while I forced my brother to sit in the back. She only drove two streets over before parking along the side of the road in front of a shop called Caroline’s. I remember what this shop looked like because I tried to put up a flyer in the window when Simba went missing, but thankfully Penner was there to save the day.

All of the sudden I realized that Rebekah’s taking us to see her mom, and all I could think about was my sister. But then when it dawned on me that I was also going to meet Penner’s mom, I felt like throwing up in my mouth.

The bell on the door rang as Rebekah led the way to the back of the store in search for her mom. I checked over my shoulder to see if Nixon was still there or not, seeing has the Stoner Pit was just on the other side of the building. He really hasn’t gotten into that stuff as much as he did when we first got here, and I was proud of him for that. At least he was able to get off of it on his own.

“Rebekah, dear what a surprise.” A surprisingly low voice came out of her mother. She appeared to be half a foot shorter than Rebekah and I now understood why Penner was a couple inches shorter than me.

“Hey, mom this is Isaac and his brother Nixon,” She introduced, pointing to the both of us. “Boys, Caroline Watson.”

“Oh, yes I remember you from the historical society party,” She said, squinting her eyes slightly. “I hope you took the news of Penner’s past well, but it’s a shame that they didn’t work out because Tyson was such a nice lad.”

As Mrs. Watson mentioned Tyson, I cringed and adverted my eyes to the floor. I was hoping I would just curl up in a ball to escape the situation or the town would be swallowed up in a sinkhole and we would all be lost and forgotten. I heard Rebekah clear he throat to try and clear some of the tension in the air and luckily changed the subject back to the problem at hand.

“My friend here is looking for a place where they sell children’s toys,” She began, grabbing the attention from her mother. “I don’t really know of anywhere around here that sells any, but I thought that you might know.”

“Hmm all I can think of is a hand-me-down shop about ten miles outside of town,” Mrs. Watson mumbled. “They’ve usually got some kids stuff. I’d give that a try.”

“Okay, thanks.” Rebekah rushed, pushing at my back to leave the store.

“It was lovely to finally meet you.” Penner’s mom called. I stopped in my tracks to look at her from the door.

“You as well, Mrs. Watson.” I said, offering her a fake smile.

I realized that our first impressions weren’t exactly the best and I didn’t want to mention to Penner about my run in with his mom. I especially didn’t want to bring up the fact that she talked about Tyson, because I didn’t even know the story. For all I know I could be the one blowing things out of proportion, but then again, why would she go to all that trouble to always bring Tyson up to me or my family?

As the three of us piled back into Rebekah’s car, my brother in the backseat and myself in the passenger, things were a little less than comfortable. We listened to awkward radio music as I stared out the window trying to think of something to say, but Rebekah beat me to it.

“I’m sorry about that,” She reached up to turn the radio down. “I told her never to bring up Tyson—.”

“It’s fine, I don’t believe her anyway.”

“Don’t believe what?” Nixon finally said, contributing to the conversation. “What was she talking about?”

I looked at Rebekah out of the corner of my eye to see if she was going to explain who Tyson actually was, but when she didn’t budge I didn’t say anything either.

“Fine, don’t answer.” He huffed.

“I put an old tux of mine in your room by the way.” I blurted, changing the topic.

“It’ll be so big on me.” My brother whined.

“It’s from Uncle Liam’s wedding, so it’s like five years old.”

“Great, then it’ll be too small on me.”

“Tux for what?” Rebekah asked, joining the discussion.

“Nixon’s going to homecoming tomorrow.” I smiled.

“Yeah, a friend of mine wanted to go with me, but Isaac didn’t like her.” He growled, bringing that up again.

“And for good reason.” I spat.

“Oh yeah, who was that?” Her eyes glanced in the rear view mirror to look at my brother.

“Hannah Barker.”

“Oh, yeah he has a good reason.” Rebekah laughed, taking my side of things.

“What’s everyone’s deal with her?” He asked rhetorically.

“If you’re not going with her, then who are you going with?” She wondered.

“Crystal Rooney.” My brother’s voice was a little less uninterested then when he said Hannah Barker’s name a few seconds ago.

“Dean Rooney’s sister?”

“Umm, I guess.”

“I went to high school with him,” She nodded slowly. “He’s a real— charmer.”

“Did you ever date him?” I questioned.

“Oh please, yeah right,” Her laughter filled the car and the music could no longer be heard. “I’d rather date my own brother than go out with Dean for one night. Is that why you’re not going to homecoming?”

“What do you mean?” I pretended to act like I had no clue what she was talking about.

Even if Penner was here I still don’t think I would go to some stupid dance. Like I told him just a few days ago, I don’t like being in painful circumstances and I’m pretty sure none of those people care about me. So I’d rather be alone with the one person who truly does care about me because he makes me happier than anything in the whole world.

“Because of my brother?” She winked.

“Uh no, no I mean dances like this aren’t really my style.” I denied, shaking my head back and forth.

“Uh huh.” She ended, facing the road again.

After sitting through nine songs, a commercial break, and driving past several cornfields, we finally pull up at this old store with a sign out in front reading _Above & Beyond_. The name didn’t make any sense to me, but Rebekah took the lead and went inside like she’d been here before.

The store was cluttered with rusty signs, old clothes and miscellaneous items on the floor and shelves. There wasn’t a true place to start looking because nothing was organized and to be honest it all looked like abandoned objects from the side of the road.

“So where do we go from here?” I wondered, looking at the junk scattered all around me.

“The guy behind the desk said we can look anywhere in the shop, just don’t steal anything.”

“Like I would dream of it.” I laughed with a hint of sarcasm, looking around at all the unwanted items. The three of us split up in the shop, Nixon going to my left and Rebekah to the right.

After driving for 20 minutes and looking for almost a half hour, I was beginning to get frustrated and just wanted to give up all together, but that was before I heard my brother calling my name to come look at what he found.

“Did you find something?” I asked, going into the poorly lightened room.

“It looks kinda like it,” He handed me the animal and I inspected it slowly, turning it in my hands to check and see if it was just like Katherine’s. “I mean, look past the dirty fabric and all the tears and rips, it’s practically the same.”

“Where did you find this?”

“It was in the basement in a box of crap.”

“Let’s just pay and get home before it gets too late and mom starts freaking out,” I whipped out a five dollar bill and handed it to my brother. “I’ll go find Rebekah.” Nixon nodded and took off towards to entrance to pay for the toy.

“Hey, there you guys are.” She said, rushing up to the pair of us.

“I was just about to come look for you.”

“Did you guys find something?” She questioned, looking behind her shoulder.

“Yeah, Nixon is paying for it now.”

“That’s good to hear,” She nodded. “I’m gunna go start the car, this place gives me the creeps.”

Within five minutes we’d gotten everything we were looking for and were already back on the road. Rebekah told me that she was hearing weird sounds in the back of the store, but it was obviously just the floor as we walked around. The sun had already began to set when we got back home just in time for dinner. Nixon and I thanked Rebekah when she dropped us off back at Camden Care to retrieve my car.

“We’re so lucky.” My brother breathed as we drove through the hills and back to our house.

“Let’s just hope she hasn’t noticed yet,” I sighed. “When we get home, sneak into the laundry room and starting cleaning it off.”

“You’re making me do a lot of things that I don’t want to do.” He whined.

“Yeah well that’s life, you might as well get used to it.” I could tell he rolled his eyes at me as I parked my car in the driveway. We quickly went inside to see what was happening, but honestly I was praying that it was something good.

The first thing that I saw was my dad holding my sister in the recliner, rocking her back and forth as her screams and cries filled the house.

“What’s wrong with her?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“She can’t find turtle.” My dad murmured, patting down her hair.

“Oh, um I’ll look around for it.” I nodded, tapping on my sister’s shoulder so she would realize I was here. Her reaction was just as I thought it would be. She started crying harder, but her screams stopped as she reached for me to pick her up.

“ **It’s okay**.” I said, kneeling down to brush at her cheeks.

“ **Turtle**.” She cried, tears still flowing down her face.

“ **I know, we’ll find him**.” I signed, kissing her cheek before rushing into the laundry room. “Hurry up, hurry up.” I breathed, rushing my brother as if he could make things go faster.

“There’s about three minutes left.” He muttered, pointing at the dryer.

“What did you do to it?”

“I cleaned it with soap and water and then threw it in the dryer to dry.” He explained.

“I don’t know if that’ll work, but it’s the best we’ve got.”

“Do you think she’ll notice the rip?” He asked when her cries began to get louder and louder.

“It’s on the foot,” I shrugged. “I’m hoping that she thinks that she did it.”

“And the missing button on the shell?”

“You know what, it’s better than what the original one looks like now.” I snapped, trying to be positive.

Another scream echoed throughout the house and my brother hung his head in sympathy. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard her cry like that before.”

“I know,” I sighed. “Even when mom and dad left for a week she wasn’t this bad.”

“That lady saved our asses.” He cursed, referring back to Mrs. Watson.

“It’s not like it was our fault the dogs chewed it up—.”

“It’s done,” He gasped, interrupting my sentence. He opened the dryer lid and pulled out the toy. “Look, all the dirt is gone.”

“Good, good,” I nodded, pulling on his shirt and he tried to bolt from the room. Another shriek came from the living room. “Listen we can’t give it to her right away.”

“What do you mean, have you seen the way she’s acting?”

“We’ve got to make it seem like we’ve been looking all day for it and then all of the sudden be like, ‘hey turtle is alive’ and then we’ll be the heroes of the day.”

“That doesn’t make sense, shouldn’t we make her feel better now?”

“Just trust me, okay?” I said, lowering my voice to not draw attention to ourselves.

“When are we gunna do it?” He asked, giving into my plan.

“After dinner.” I said, hearing our mom call us all to the kitchen table.

“If I get a migraine, it’s all your fault.” He joked, throwing the toy on the shelf and turning out the light to leave me standing there in the dark.

(Penner’s P.O.V)

“You had a good idea when you said just the two of us should hang out.” I sighed, slumping down on Boone’s couch.

“Well I couldn’t think of the last time we did.”

“This has been the longest day ever.” I said, closing my eyes for just a moment.

“I just want to sleep for three weeks.” Boone agreed.

“Who called you earlier in the van?”

“Elsie,” He started. “She was freaking out because she lost her bracelet in the pool and never found it.”

“Why does it matter, it’s just some bracelet?”

“Nah, I got it for her on our six month anniversary,” He muttered, running a hand over his face. “She never takes it off.”

“Oh,” I gulped. “I’m sorry about that.”

“I’m gunna check the front desk before we leave tomorrow if they found it or not.”

“That’s a good idea,” I agreed. “Did Rico tell you where he was going?” I asked, making more conversation.

“All I know is him and Zander are doing their own—.” Boone was interrupted by a large banging and pounding on his door, startling the pair of us as we stood up to investigate.

“Who is it?” I asked, timidly.

“It-it’s Z-Zander,” He slurred, obviously drunk. “Let me in!”

“Go away!” Boone shouted, glancing at me if I was going to open the door for him.

“No, no, no!” Zander yelled, banging on the door repeatedly. “I jus-st— ple-ease, I just wanna talk to Penn, o-okay? Just let me in.”

Boone started towards to door, but I latched my hand around his arm to stop him. I quickly shook my head so get him to stop, but he gave me a reassuring nod, convincing me to let him go.

“Z,” Boone muttered, cracking the door to talk with our drunk bandmate. “You have to leave now.”

“No!”

“Shut up!” I said, trying not to wake up our security crew.

“You—you shut up-p!” He shot back, leaning against the wall when he lost his balance.

“Can you guys take this somewhere else?” Boone wondered as the three of us were crowding in Boone’s room.

“Okay, well, I'm never gunna get him past Rupert, so you—.”

“I'll be f-fine,” Zander garbled, starting to lean to his left. “I'll just—.”

I grabbed my arm around his waist and held him up before he could fall over. He draped his limbs over my shoulders as Boone reached in to help. “You have— uh you have to help me get him up to the roof.” I said, taking off towards the stairs and up four flights.

“This is too much for me to do at 11 PM,” Boone started. “Oh, your breath is nasty.”

“Shhhh.” I hushed, stopping Boone from whining any longer. Zander was leaning all of his body weight on Boone and I, making us practically carry him up the stairs.

“I'm fine.” Zander breathed on my face, causing me to push his face away.

“You're not fine.” I disagreed, bursting the door to the roof open. The New York night sky was completely black because of all the air pollution from the cars. The lights from the city glowed all around us and the towering buildings caged us in beside us. I sighed when I realized the roof was completely flat and Boone and I dropped Zander to the surface, letting him lay there to stare blankly at the sky.

“Oh wow, I love this roof!” Zander exclaimed. “Whooo!” He shouted, causing several birds to go flying in the air in fear.

“Oh my God,” Boone huffed, having enough of Zander. “I gotta get some sleep.”

“Thank you.” I said, watching as Boone disappeared from the door which we entered.

“Oh! I'm spinning-ing.” Zander piped up from where we left him. “I don’t feel so good.” He complained, sitting up to throw up next to him.

“I'm sure you don't.” I muttered, not feeling sorry for my bandmate.

“I'm really sorry.” He apologized, laying back down on the roof.

“Save it,” I snapped. “You're not forgiven yet.”

“Can’t you just give me a second chance?” He moaned. I automatically thought about Isaac for some strange reason. Probably because as we sat on the beach the night before I left, I told him that he was worthy of a second chance. Isaac didn’t go through my things or snoop around to try and figure things out. Isaac and I had a mere misunderstanding which was resolved and now things are better than ever. But what happened with Zander, it’s hard to find a point where you can trust someone again after they’ve went and done something like this.

“I’ve already given my second chance to someone who deserves it.” I said, crossing my arms to lean against the door because I knew that we were going to be up here for a while.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

After dinner, my mom and dad stayed in the kitchen to “talk things over”, whatever that meant. Meanwhile, the rest of us went into the living room to find something to watch on TV. Katherine’s head was resting on my chest, still upset about her beloved stuffed animal. The “new” turtle was waiting in the laundry room, but I was trying to find the perfect moment to show her what we found.

I’d constantly been checking my phone every 30 seconds to see if Penner had left a text since the one from this morning. I knew nothing bad had happened to him, but I just want to be informed of the things that are going on in New York.

Nixon was in charge of the remote, and while Trey was whining when he kept skipping over Transformers and settled on some R Rated movie, I didn’t feel like breaking them up.

“Nixon, I don’t want to watch this!” Trey shouted, fighting to get the remote out of Nixon’s hands.

“Well that’s life,” He said, easily keeping it out of Trey’s reach. “Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do.” His words grabbed my attention as he repeated the same statement I’d told him before our little adventure.

“Boys, will you please try and get along for all of our sakes,” My mom gasped, coming from the kitchen to stop their fighting. “How was your night?” My mom asked, mainly towards me.

“Uh,” I thought, trying to find the right wording. “Same old, same old.”

“This is too inappropriate for you Nixon,” She ticked, noticing the Hangover was playing on the screen. “Especially Trey.”

“But mom did you see the tiger!” My youngest brother exclaimed. “Can we get one?” He asked hopefully.

“Yeah mom,” I joked, raising my eyebrows. “Can we get one?”

“Change the channel,” She said, pointing at Nixon to avoid the question. “And the answer is no because if the neighbor dogs scare you, just imagine was a vicious tiger will do to you.”

“That’s not fair!”

“I mean it, turn it on something else before he gets new words in his vocabulary,” Nixon rolled his eyes and turned it on the do-it-yourself channel, cocking his head to the side as he looked at my mom. Trey on the other hand got up from the couch and stomped up to his room. “Isaac can you come into the kitchen.”

With the protests of whines coming from my sister as I began to move her from her spot on my chest, I placed her stomach down on the couch so she could pretend it was me. “What’s up?” I asked, eyeing my parents as they sat in front of me.

“Listen,” My mom began, aiming to the chair to get me to sit down. “Ever since you told us about Penner we haven’t been able to sit and talk about it.”

“What’s there to talk about?”

“Well, your father and I are just concerned, that’s all.”

“You’ve met Penner,” I said, scrunching my eyebrows together. “Why are you concerned?”

“It’s just—.”

“We don’t want you to relapse again.” My dad blurted, causing the room to go quiet.

“What?” I gasped after a silent break. “That’s not gunna happen.” I promised.

“How do you know that?” My dad pressed, rushing out all these questions at me as if I’m supposed to know all the answers to them. “Once he gets back you’ll grow even closer, but what will happen when he leaves again? What if he leaves for an even longer period of time, how are you going to be able to be on your own without feeling like you need an alternative solution?”

“He’s the one helping me through this!” I shouted, stopping my dad from continuing. At this point I didn’t care if Nixon could hear everything that was going on. I was filled with anger from my toes up because my parents actually thought that Penner was bad for me. “He’s trying to understand and make things better for me that way I never have to be that person again!”

“How can he help you when he can’t even take care of himself?” My mother mumbled, trying to calm down the situation, but failing when she added the next part. “Don’t you remember what Caroline told me about Tyson?”

“She was lying.” I whispered, tightening my hands into a fist and keeping my eyes on the floor.

“Izzy, please just try and put yourself in Tyson’s—.”

“Tyson can go to hell!” I roared, knocking out the chair from under me as I stormed out of the house and up to my room. I locked my door behind me, keeping the lights off as I collapsed onto my bed to sob into the crook of my elbow.

 


	30. Saturday, Sept. 29th: Tap On My Window Knock On My Door

 (Isaac’s P.O.V)

I’d slept in past 10 AM and I thankfully wasn’t rudely woken up by either of my parents like I assumed they would. I’d actually gotten up sometime after 9 AM, but continued to lay in my bed and think about everything that was going to happen. I knew that Penner was going to be home, and that made me smile from ear to ear, but then the thought of the comments from last night’s fight came flooding back in and wiped it off my face.

I tried my hardest to avoid going back into the house to face my parents. I started off by taking a shower, which only lasted 10 minutes and then I tried working out. But when I say “working out” I mean doing five pushups and five sit ups before I gave up because my stomach began growling. It was nearing 11 AM, which meant my Mom would’ve cleaned up from breakfast and I would have to skip that meal for today.

I checked my phone as I walked through the front door to try and not make eye contact with anyone who would be sitting in the living room. The first thing I saw was a missed call and a voicemail left from Penner. I put the phone up to my ear and listened to his voice come from the message.

“ _Hey, I’m sorry for calling so late and you probably won’t get this until tomorrow, but I just wanted to tell you that I hope everything is going great and I can’t wait to see you when I get back_.”

I tried to hide my smile by biting on my lips, but it was no use. I was about to spread a full on ear to ear grin before my youngest brother tapped me on the arm as I reached for the pop tarts in the cabinet.

“Izzy.” Trey whispered.

“What are you doing?” I asked, kneeling down to his level. “Isn’t Dad waiting to take you to practice?”

“I don’t want to play anymore.”

“Look, I understand that things are a little different, but you made a commitment to your team and to yourself,” I tried my best to explain to him why it was bad to quit, but I don’t think he was having any of it. “You can’t back out now.”

He tucked his chin to his chest and mumbled softly, so soft that I barely heard him. “I don’t like it.”

“Listen,” I said, putting his attention back on me. “Why don’t you go today and play as hard as you can, and then if things still don’t work out, we can talk to Dad about trying something different.” I tried negotiating, looking at my brother’s expression to see if it would change.

“Fine.” He huffed, grabbing his bag from the couch and pushing the door open to meet my Dad in the car. I opened the package and was about to take a bite when loud footsteps on the stairs and obnoxious huffing interrupted me.

“Mom!” Nixon shouted, running into the living room. “Everything is too long!”

“Calm down, it’s gunna be okay,” I tried not to listen to their voices by humming a Coldplay song in my head, but it didn’t do any good. “Change out of that and we’ll go down to Caroline’s to get it fixed up.”

“I have to have it by 5 PM.” I rolled my eyes at his whining voice. After all the crap I’ve covered up for him he tries to act innocent as if he’s never done anything bad in his life. One of these days he’s going to get in so much trouble and there will be nothing I can do about it.

“It will be ready before then, just relax,” She began, but then I heard her footsteps getting closer. “Isaac—.”

“I heard you.” I snapped, stopping her from telling me what I already know.

 “Alright, well I’m taking Kitty so we’ll be back later.” She said, taking her keys and purse off the counter and waiting for my brother to return. After a few minutes my mother’s voice shouted from the doorway. “Izzy, we’re leaving!”

“Okay.” I mumbled to myself. With the sounds of their voices fading and the sound of a car engine starting, I knew that I had at least two hours all by myself. My Dad usually stays at Trey’s practices to give him some sideline coaching, which was the most embarrassing thing ever. I had to go though it when I was his age and I didn’t let him down softly when I told him I was never playing sports again.

I stared blankly around the house to see what it is I could do that wouldn’t be allowed when the family is here. I could sing and dance like every person does when they’re alone, and if you’re denying it you’re lying to yourself. I could blare music all through the house and cause the bloodhounds next door to bark at the noise. Or I could just strip naked and casually sit on every eating surface because I was still pissed at my parents for what they said last night.

I chose not to do either of those things because I would either get caught or end up in serious trouble. I decided to look through all the cabinets to see what we had to eat because that seemed like the only logical thing to do when there is nothing else to do.

Right before I was going to check the refrigerator, my phone on the counter started buzzing and the name I always hoped was on the screen appeared.

“Hello?” I answered, waiting for him to reply. “Penner?” I called again, plopping down on the couch.

“Isaac?” His voice came through the other end.

“Hey there you are, I got your message this morning.” I smiled to myself, glad that I was finally able to talk to him since Thursday.

“I thought I should call you since I’m at the airport.”

“What time does your plane leave?” I questioned

“A little after 3 PM.”

“You still got a couple more hours to wait I see.” Out of the blue there were sounds of what sounded like static coming in through his phone.

“Izzy?” Penner’s voice broke through the noise. “Can you hear me?”

“Yeah, but just barely,” I said a little louder, just in case I was the one who couldn’t be heard. “Where are you at?”

“Hold on a minute,” He said after a few seconds. There were random voices and screaming coming through my phone, but then all of the sudden they stopped and there was silence. “Sorry about that, this mob of girls just came out of nowhere.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” I began. “But are you okay now?”

“Yeah, they just put us in a private room away from all the people.” He explained.

“How crazy do your fans get?” I wondered.

“They can be anywhere between shy to psychopath.”

I laughed at his comment, although something inside of me knew that he wasn’t joking. “I hope no one has asked you for a cheek swab to make a clone out of you.”

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” He agreed. “Hey can you wait a sec, Boone’s plane is about to board.”

“Oh, yeah sure take your time.” I nodded, slouching even further into the couch.

“Okay, don’t hang up, I’ll be back.”

“I’ll be waiting.” I awkwardly sat in silence and I just began humming a beat in my head, but after a while I found myself rhyming words together to pass the time.

_“I’ll be waiting on the day,_

_Where I can find the words to say,_

_How much I really, oh how much I really,_

_Want a peanut butter and jelly,_

_With some Cool Ranch Doritos,_

_But Nacho Cheese will be just fine,_

_Can I get some justice,_

_Can someone find me a compass,_

_So I can get that large glass of sweet tea,_

_Be hand delivered to me.”_

“Thanks for that performance.” Penner’s voice broke out of the silence.

“Oh, no, no, no, no!” I exclaimed, covering my face with my hand as I could feel it getting hotter. “Oh God no! Penner you weren’t supposed to hear that!”

“Izzy, c’mon it wasn’t that bad.”

“I’m so freaking embarrassed,” I sighed. “How much of that did you hear?”

“I heard the part about Cool Ranch Doritos.” He mumbled.

“Ugh, I’m so stupid.” I said, laughing at myself.

“Calm down, I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear anything.”

“Please do,” I muttered, mentally slapping myself in the head. “Well say something.” I said when Penner kept quiet.

“I love how you make me laugh.” His tone very serious and soft.

“It’s not true humor, it’s just humility.”

“Hmm, I don’t believe that.” He hummed.

I bit on my lip as a couple seconds passed by before I cleared my throat and continued. “What are you doing now?” I asked, hoping to get all the attention off of me.

“I’m just chillin’ here with Rico and Zander.”

“What’s their stories?” I wondered.

“Stories?”

“Yeah, like where are they from, just that kind of stuff.” I explained further.

“Well, Zander is 19 years old and he’s from this town a few hours from Seattle,” He began. “His older sister Miranda is in med school and his younger brother Rusty is around Nixon’s age.”

“And he’s the one with the side bangs?” I asked for conformation.

“Yeah, that’s him,” Penner laughed, moving onto the next guy. “Rico is also 19 years old and he has two sisters, Carmen whose 21 years old and Juanita Pillar who is Rico’s fraternal twin, but we all call her J.P. for short. They’re all from Texas, but Rico lives in San Francisco.”

“Oh I know Rico, he’s the drummer with the tank tops and tattoos.”

“You’re getting good at this.” He praised.

“I know the most about Boone—well not really, I’ve only talked to him once.”

“Boone’s got a bit of a complicated story,” He murmured slowly. “His parents married young and started a family in West Virginia before they were 30 years old, and they’re all really close considering what happened.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, scrunching my eyebrows together and pulling my knees to my chest.

“Do you want to know? I mean, it’s really creepy and insane.”

“Yeah, I wanna know.” I said after a few moments.

“When Boone was four, his mom just freaked out one day, completely out of nowhere and stabbed his dad to death, and then she killed herself with it,” He paused suddenly, probably waiting to see if I was going to respond to the story. “He doesn’t really remember them at all, it was just what his grandparents told him.”

“Oh my gosh,” I breathed, my jaw all the way to the ground. “Does he have any siblings?” I questioned.

“Boone’s older brother Dante enlisted in the military after graduating high school to get more money for their family. But once both of Boone’s grandparents died he dropped out of school and was just kind of reckless all the time,” I nodded, a sudden feeling of sadness washed over me. “His younger sister, Logan is in college.”

“You’re gunna need to write all of that down for me.” I commented, trying to lighten the mood.

“It’s not that hard to remember,” He reassured. “Plus if you ever forget I’m sure the internet has every little detail about us already uploaded.”

“That must be annoying, I mean knowing that your whole life is available for anyone to see at any moment.” I said, hoping that Penner would see that I was trying to understand his ‘other’ life.

“Eh, that’s just a downside to the job, but the worst part is that we’ve all got stories we want to keep in the past.”

“What’s your story?” I asked without thinking.

“Uh, I think that’s something to save for another time,” He tried forgetting the question by laughing it off and changing the subject. “I can’t wait to get back home.” He breathed.

“Me too,” I agreed. “I mean I am home, but I can’t wait for you to get back either.”

“Just under 12 hours before we’re together.” He reminded.

“Ugh, that sounds like a century.” I exaggerated.

“You just gotta get something to take your mind off of it,” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to think of something that would work. “I remembered what you said about Homecoming being tonight.” He piped up.

“Oh, yeah.” I mumbled.

“Did you change your mind about going?” He wondered.

“No, no I wanted to be home when you got to town.”

“Isaac, go out and have some fun for once.”

“I told you it would be lame and boring,” I reminded, trying to get him to understand that I thought he was more important than some childish high school dance. “We’ll just go to the one next year.”

“Well I might not be here next year.” He blurted without thinking.

“Can we not think about that?” I softly asked, squeezing my eyes shut as if that was going to make the truth go away.

“Izzy, I’m sorry, that was really insensitive of me.” He apologized.

“No, don’t say you’re sorry,” I said, knowing that he hadn’t done anything wrong. “Anyways, I’m gunna stay in all night and watch TV and hopefully fall asleep to make the time go by faster.”

“That sounds like a well spent Saturday,” He added. “Listen, Zander’s flight number just got called, I’ll see you a few hours.” He rushed.

“Okay, bye Penner.” I said just barely before he hung the phone up, leaving me to eat everything in the house.

(Morgan’s P.O.V)

“Hey!” A voice rang throughout the parking lot of the diner. My mom needed and extra hand dealing with the Saturday afternoon rush, so she called my brother and I to help. Although my brother never showed up, we hardly got through it with the short amount of employees who were working. “Hey!” It called again, grabbing my attention.

“Hey.” I greeted, looking over my shoulder and realizing it was Jai.

“I haven’t seen you in a while.” He said, running up to me in dress pants and a button up shirt. He brushed his hand against mine in attempts to grab ahold of it.

“I’m not avoiding you, I swear.” I placed both of my hands on the straps of my book bag to avoid holding his hand.

“Yeah,” He huffed, noticing my action. “You’re avoiding me a little.”

“Okay, maybe a little.” I shrugged, giving into the pressure and taking his hand in mine.

“Can we talk later?” Jai asked, stopping abruptly and pulling me to the side so cars could get around. “I mean, I’m heading to an interview right now but maybe after, to clear some of this weirdness.”

“What are you interviewing for?” I wondered.

“I told you I was trying to get the busboy position so we could have more time together.”

“Oh, yeah right,” I nodded, biting on my lip. I didn’t have time to see him or any of my friends lately, which caused me to be out of the loop. Jai had probably told me five times he was applying for a job and I’d tuned him out every time. “I’ll just stop by when I get my homework done?”

“Sounds good.” He smiled, kissing me on the lips and making his way into the restaurant.

“Okay, bye.” I muttered, running towards my car as I was going to be late to rehearsals if I didn’t get to the school in ten minutes. But as I came bolting through the side doors of the theatre, I got stares from everyone.

“It’s about time you showed up.” Jason said as I passed him.

“I had to take a detour,” I said, throwing down my bag onto one of the auditorium chairs. “The fire hydrant on Emerson Street exploded or something and everything is flooded.”

“Okay, okay we don’t need your entire life story,” Piper snapped, making her way to the stage in her four inch heels. “Can we just get on with this?” Mrs. Collins, the director called up Jason and I to follow Piper to the stage to work on a scene.

“Alright, this scene is the first time Alice is meeting the Hatter,” Mrs. Collins started. “Now remember Morgan, I really need to believe that you are offended. Ready and action!”

“Your hair wants cutting!” Jason started, leaning in to touch my hair.

“You should learn not to make personal remarks!”  
  
“And that wasn’t?” Piper chimed.

“I should learn not to make personal remarks? Why?” Jason gasped, putting the tape measure under his large hat.  
  
“Because it is rude!” I said, exaggerating it to sound more offensive just like the director asked.  
  
“Oh, my,” He said, itching at his chin. “You learn something every day. Speaking of, what day of the month is it?” He grabbed his pocket watch and shook in his hand and then held it up to his ear.   
  
“The fourth.” I muttered calmly.

“Two days wrong!” His attention switched from mine to Piper’s. “I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!”  
  
“It was the _best_ butter.” Piper said, and I made it seem like I was taking a closer look at the table that was going to be placed in front of us.  
  
“Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well. You shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife!” Jason exclaimed.  
  
“You wouldn’t let me lick it clean.” She said a little too sexually.  
  
“I didn’t want you to get a HARE in it!” All of us on and off stage gathered in fake laughter.   
  
“Cut!” Mrs. Collins stepped in. “That was just what I was looking for, well done!”

“Great job, guys.” I said to Piper and Jason who gave me no reply. While Mrs. Collins requested the Hatter and the Red Queen to be on stage, I was sent back to costumes to get fitted for my wig. The show was in December, and felt like the entire weight of it was on my shoulders.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

My dad and my brother returned home a little after 2 PM, but my mom showed up just in time to get Nixon changed before Crystal came to pick him up. I really hadn’t talked to anyone all day, except for Penner and a one worded answer to my mother. By the time anyone returned home I was already in my room and the only thing that made me go in the house was a text from Nixon that read:

_From Nixon: Help me._

I sighed to myself, not wanting to deal with Nixon’s whining like before, but I knew that he was going to be extremely nervous and I would be an idiot to make things worse for him.

As soon as I walked through the front door I could see my parents out on the deck, watching Katherine and Trey playing in the yard. I practically ran up the stairs and down to Nixon’s room.

“So, tonight’s the night,” I smiled, poking my head into my brother’s room to catch him fidgeting with the laces of his shoes.

“I feel like I’m gunna throw up.” Nixon admitted.

“You should feel like that,” I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest. “This is the first time you’re going with a girl—hell this is the first time you’re going to a dance at all.”

“It’s not that big of a deal.” He said, shaking his head back and forth, standing up to look at himself in the mirror.

“Of course it is.”

“Well it might be a big deal for you.”

“You’re branching out of your comfort zone and trying new things—.”

“Okay, okay,” He said, putting his hands up to get me to stop. “You’re sounding like Mom.”

“Well straighten your pink tie before your date shows up.” I joked, trying to stress him out.

“Crystal picked the dress and she wanted to match.” He whined, trying to defend himself.

“There’s no need to explain.” I laughed.” What time are you leaving?”

“We’re going over to Hannah’s house for dinner, so it should be anytime now.”

“Hannah’s going to be there?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.

“Yeah it is her house.” He said, scrunching his forehead together.

“Right, right.” I muttered, exiting his room and heading down the hall.

“How is he?” My mom asked from the bottom of the stairs. “The last time I was up there trying to help he shoved me out of his room.”

“He’s nervous.” I mumbled. Lights shined briefly through the window and the sound of a car door shutting got my mother’s attention quickly.

“I think she’s here.” My mom announced, practically shoving me out of the way to get a closer look out the window. “Oh doesn’t she look beautiful. Nixon!” She called after him, running up the stairs as I let Crystal inside.

“Umm, he’ll be down in a sec.” I smiled, trying to not make things more awkward then they already are. Her dress was extremely poofy and I was starting to think that it wouldn’t fit through the door without all the glitter and sparkles falling off.

“Crystal,” Nixon choked out, clearly shocked at the girl in front of him. “You look great.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Okay, uh we're gunna go.” My brother, grabbed his jacket quickly off the chair and tried to escape before our mom could embarrass him.

“Wait, wait, wait,” She said, grabbing onto Nixon’s arm. “I wanna—we have to have a picture,” She rushed into the kitchen to grab her prehistoric camera.

“Oh, mom.” Nixon huffed.

“Okay, get closer,” My brother exchanged looks with Crystal, grabbing her around the waist to pull her closer and then glanced back at my mom. “Smile.” She said, the flash leaning spots in all our eyes.

“Is that good enough?” Nixon asked, glaring at me to get me to notice how uncomfortable he was.

“Mom, we don’t want them to be late.” I stepped in.

“Yes, you’re right,” She made her way over to the door to hold it open for the pair of them. “Drive careful.” She muttered as she watched them walk away.

“I’m going to my room.” I said, pointing at the door.

“Dinner will be ready at 7 PM.” She informed.

“Okay.” I mumbled, not looking back at her. I was beginning to think I was taking this too far, the whole avoiding my mom and dad thing. But if they weren’t going to apologize then neither was I.

(TIME PASS)

I was woken up with a persistent ringing that was blaring in my ear. My head shot up from where it was rested on the arm of the couch, and my neck was shooting in pain from the awkward position. The first thing I noticed was the time and it read 6:34 Pm which meant that I’d been asleep for over an hour. But then the next thing I saw was the name on the screen and it said Penner, and I immediately sat up on the couch, folding my knees to my chest as I answered it before it could go to voicemail.

“Hey.” I answered, clearing my throat.

“Hey, hey I’m glad I reached you,” His voice was rushed with a hint of breathlessness. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good, I’ve been waiting for you to call.” I admitted, wiping the sleep from my eyes and running a hand through my hair.

“I know, I’ve just gotten to my first stop.”

“What, seriously?” I gasped. “You were supposed to have landed in Augusta by now.”

“I know, I know,” He murmured, trying to calm me down. “Something happened with my passport and flight number and I’ve had to wait all this time to figure out the next flight to Augusta. I was going to call you, but I couldn’t get any reception inside the airport.”

“So what time are you gunna get in?” I slowly asked, biting on my fingernail.

“I’ve gotta stop once more on my way back, but I’m getting on the 9 PM flight later. It says I’ll get in sometime after 5 AM.”

“Oh,” I breathed. “I’ll still come pick you up.”

“No, no, no don’t that’s too early for you to be driving,” He rushed, but clearing his throat when he continued. “Besides my management is sending someone to bring me home.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ll be fine.” He paused slightly. “I promise.”

“Now I just have to wait eight hours before I can see you.”

“It won’t be that long, just don’t think about it.”

“Be careful.” I whispered.

“I always am.”

“Bye, Penn.”

“Bye, Izzy,” He huffed. “See you in a bit.”

I hopped up from my spot on the couch and stretched my limbs before going into the house and into the kitchen.

“Oh, good thing you’re here,” My mom said, stirring up something on the stove. “Dinner didn’t take that long to cook as I thought.”

“Hmm and what are we having?” I asked.

“I thought I would try to make lobster fettuccini since I liked it so much at the diner.”

“Well, it smells good.”

“Thank you,” She smiled. “Can you go and get your brother and tell him dinner is ready?”

“Sure.” I nodded, getting my brother from his room and sitting down with everyone at the table.

(TIME PASS)

After digesting dinner, I sat in the recliner with Katherine on my lap as I helped her to begin recognizing the basic shapes like a circle and square. The only lasted about an hour because it was hard to keep her attention from drifting to something else. Trey insisted that we watch a movie, so as we scrolled through the options he really wanted to see the Croods.

Since Katherine didn’t know how to read yet, she just enjoyed the characters on the TV. My brother was the one who picked out the movie and made my parents and I suffer through it. About halfway through the movie my sister fell asleep on my lap and Trey whined that he needed something to drink, so we paused the movie and my dad helped Trey in the kitchen with his beverage.

When their voices began getting louder and louder my mother got out of her chair and my attention was dragged to the scene. I picked my sister off my lap and placed her on the couch as I stood to see what was actually happening.

“I’m done with basketball!” Trey shouted, running up the stairs until his door slammed shut.

“Trey!” My dad yelled after him, I picked my sister off my lap and sat her down on the couch as I made my way over to the steps. “Trey, you will not be like my other children, I won’t have it!”

“Other children?” I gasped, stopping in my tracks and clenching my jaw together.

“Isaac—.”

“Don’t,” I snapped, cutting into his sentence. “Sorry the rest of us are such disappointments.”

“Oh, don’t start this.”

“No, no maybe we do need to start this since it’s never been talked about before.” I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to build up the courage to stand up to my father.

“Let it go, son.” He advised, and by this point my mom had already stepped foot in the living room in case things were to get out of hand.

“You just can’t stand the fact that I’m not like you, that I don’t have a single gene of yours in my body,” He started to walk away, but that didn’t stop me from continuing. “You’re so pissed that I turned out to hate sports because you forced them on me my whole life.”

After my last word my father was standing incredibly close to me, his eyes burning into mine as if he was trying to scare me. “I said, let it go.”

It was clear to me that my Dad only liked dealing with situations he knew how to handle, and the other ones he just waited until they eventually disappeared. It seemed to me that he was living his whole life waiting for bad situations to eventually disappear. He was waiting for Katherine to be able to hear. He was waiting for Nixon become an athlete. He was waiting for Trey to walk in his shadow.

When I thought things had come to an end, there was something else that I needed to get off of my chest. “And you’re pissed you have a gay son!”

“Isaac Daniel.” My mom warned, throwing my middle name into the conversation.

“You were the only one who wouldn’t accept it, but you never stopped to think that your opinion mattered the most to me,” I fought off the lump in my throat and continued. “I know you wanted me to be different, but I can’t change how I was born.”

“I think it would be best if you went to your room for the night.” It was obvious he was trying his hardest not to yell at me in front of my mother. I huffed, storming off to my room and slammed the door shut behind me as I felt a tear slide down my cheek.

I plopped face down on my couch to try and convince myself that I wasn’t crying over something my Dad had done. It was just an ongoing fight with him to try and get him to understand I didn’t want to live that life he thought was best for me.

Just as I was about to let out another huge wail, a knock on my door startled me. “Go away,” I huffed, but the knocking persisted. I figured it was either Trey or my Mom since my dad couldn’t stand the sight of me. I wiped the tears off of my cheeks and took a deep breath to gather myself together before going to open the door.

“Can’t you—,” I started, but stopped dead in my tracks as Penner stood face to face with me. “What are you doing here?” I gasped, feeling the need to cry again.

“Surprise.” He smiled.

“What are you doing here?” I asked again, looking him up and down to try and figure out how to hug him.

“I can always leave and come back?”

“Oh my God!” I cried, throwing my arms around his neck, my body shaking involuntarily as I tried to fight off the tears. The more my limbs would shake the tighter my grip would become, but I only let up when Penner would choke out a comment.

“Izzy, you’re suffocating me.” He coughed, causing me to let go and begin shaking again. I had so many emotions happening all at once and it was hard to try and control them at the same time. “What’s wrong, why are you shaking?”

“It’s nothing,” I lied, letting a tear slip from my eye. “Get your ass in here.” I smiled, trying to laugh it off as I pulled him by the hand into my room.

“Isaac,” He muttered, grabbing my shoulder to turn me around. “Don’t lie to me.”

“I just got in a fight with my dad, it’s not a big deal.”

“Well it looks like you’ve been crying so that means it was a big deal.” He gently grabbed the sides of my face, running his thumbs along my cheeks.

You’re not having any like thoughts or cravings are you?

No, no that didn’t even cross my mind. I think that’s a first.

Penner unexpectedly leaned in for a kiss, catching me off guard. We stay like that for a while, just enjoying being together in each other’s arms again. I was starting to think that he was going to bring up my crying again, but he never did. I bet he was hoping I would feel comfortable enough to say it myself.

“This feels good.” Penner whispered into my neck, my fingers running up and down his arm.

“Stay with me tonight,” I said. “We can watch the Breakfast Club.”

“Seriously?” He grinned, taking me to the couch to lay his body on top of mine.

“It was just the first thing that came to my mind.”

“Whatever you want is fine with me.” He said, kissing my cheek.

“Just be here with me.”

“Will do.” He agreed, pecking me on the lips before getting off of me to go look at the movie selection.

“I can’t believe you’re here.” I blurted, staring at his back as he kneeled down next to the TV.

“Well believe it, darling.” He smiled, joking slightly.

“You’re picking out a movie right in front of me,” I continued to babble. “In my room.”

“Are you in shock or something?” He asked, bringing over Taxi Driver from the shelf.

“No, no I mean you told me you weren’t getting in until tomorrow morning.”

“I wanted to surprise you.” He grinned, our thighs and shoulders touching as he talked on the couch.

“You did a good job of it,” I grabbed onto his knee with my hand and ran my finger gently up and down his leg. When he looked down at what I was doing I took my opportunity to press my lips against his. He let out a whine as our lips began moving faster, our bodies shifting so he was almost on top of me.

“Hmm, Izzy,” He moaned, breaking the kiss. I didn’t want to stop touching him so I latched my mouth onto his neck and began slowly kissing up and down. “O-oh baby.” Penner groaned, making me feel tingly down south. I immediately stopped and kissed his lips one more time.

“Do my parents know you’re up here?” I asked, ruining the moment we just had.

“Umm,” He said, catching his breath. “I saw them both pacing in the living room and I kinda snuck up here without them seeing.”

“Won’t they see your car in driveway?” I wondered.

“Nah,” He shrugged, putting his feet on my lap and leaning back on the couch. “Rebekah gave me a ride.”

“You went to her first before you came to see me?” I jokingly gasped, pretending to be hurt.

“I mean she is my sister, and she’s the one who picked me up in Augusta.”

“Oh.” I breathed, trying to make my lips look pouty.

“Hmm,” He hummed, putting his lips on mine. “Is there any way to move the TV in front of the bed?”

“I like the way you think.” I smiled, helping him move the TV and the stand as far as it would go to the bed. While I put the movie into the player, he threw himself face down on my bed and taking a deep breath. I smiled at him as I laid down next to him.

He peeked up at me with squinted eyes and then rolled on his side to talk to me. “I missed you,” He said, grabbing onto my waist to pull me closer. “More than I probably should have.”

“At least you had a distraction doing interviews and whatnot,” I breathed. “I was left with school, my psycho family, and my thoughts.”

“And what were your thoughts saying?” He questioned, wiggling his eyebrows as he repeatedly poked me in the stomach.

“You’re in a playful mood.” I said, avoiding the question.

“I told you already,” I grinned, messing with my shirt. “I missed you.”

“Are we just going to lay here all night telling each other how much we both missed the other person?” I stupidly asked.

“That sounds like a splendid idea.”

“Okay, well are you going to school Monday?” I wondered.

“Of course I am because I would miss you too much,” He repeated, crossing his eyes at me as he continued on. “Oh and that reminds me, can you do me a favor.”

“Sure, anything.” I nodded, sitting up straighter.

“Listen I know this a huge step in a relationship and I don’t want you to think that I’m forcing you to do this because if you want to wait, I’ll wait,” His eyes were very serious and his thumb moved back and forth softly over my elbow. “But I have to ask.”

“Penner?” I breathed, not fully understanding what it was he was getting at.

“Isaac, can I copy your Chemistry homework?” He asked, turning something I thought was sexual to a commonly asked question among students. I bit on my lip, remembering that he found it attractive and slapped him on the shoulder with a pillow, causing a full on pillow fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is almost the end! Just one more chapter left before Book 1 is complete!


	31. Sunday, Sept. 30th: I've Been Up In The Air

(Jai’s P.O.V)

I’d been waiting at the diner so long that I lost track of all the wasted hours that went by. I’d gotten through my interview with Morgan’s mom, Larissa, and she automatically gave me the job on the spot. I was still hoping that Morgan would show up, but no one in their right mind would stay even three hours after someone was supposed to meet with you. It’s not because I’m that kind of person who just waits around because I have nothing else to do, it’s because I’ve got this feeling inside of me whenever Morgan is around and I feel like I stick around because of that.

I could feel myself drifting off to sleep as I stared at the moon reflecting off of the ocean in front of me. Everyone in town is asleep, which meant that there was dead silence all around me and when a loud bang came out of nowhere, it caused me to jump out of my skin. I turned towards the sound and I found that Grayson was either locking the door to the diner, or he was breaking into it.

“You scared me.” I breathed, catching his attention.

“I didn’t think anyone would be here after midnight.” He mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets and making his way over to me.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at some dance?” I asked, watching as a cars headlights drove along the street.

“Nah, my mom forced me to come and work the late shift.”

“So you left Hannah all alone?” I questioned, raising my eyebrows.

“She didn’t want to go with me in the first place.”

I found it odd that my sister would all of the sudden give up on Grayson. It was obvious to me and everyone at school that there was something going on between the pair of them, and I’ve even seen them kiss more than once. I couldn’t figure out the reason why Hannah did this and I didn’t understand what she was hoping to gain from this. “Who did she end up going with?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t talked to her,” The tone in his voice hinted a bit of irritation so I dropped the subject of my sister. “Listen don’t you have somewhere else to be, you've been here forever.”

“Oh yeah, I-I thought I was meeting Morgan,” I briefly stuttered. “You haven't seen her have you?”

“I’m not keeping up on her comings and goings anymore.” He shrugged, heading off in the opposite direction. I hopped off of the bench to chase after him, putting a hand on his shoulder to turn him around.

“Look, man, I never meant for me and her being together to be a problem for you.”

“It is what it is.” He shoved my hand away and took off down the road.

“I can give you a ride home, ya know?” I called out to him, but instead of replying he gave me the middle finger and kept on walking. “Whatever.” I muttered under my breath.

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket, not caring what time it was and dialed Morgan’s number. I waited about four rings before it stopped and her voice came through the other line.

“Hello?” She answered, yawning into the phone.

“Hey,” I muttered. “Did something happen?” I wondered, not understanding why she would bail on me without an explanation.

“Oh my—,” She started, mentally slapping herself. “I’m so sorry, Jai.” She sighed.

“Are you okay?” I asked, shoving my empty hand in my jacket pocket.

“Yeah, it’s just—just something came up with Carly and Maddie and they both needed me,” She rushed. “It was a friend thing.”

“So you were with her all night?” I asked, trying to get the answer I wanted out of her.

“Yeah,” She breathed, pausing shortly and then continuing. “Look I’m sorry I couldn’t make it but I’ll see you today?”

“I’ve gotta work.” I said, shaking my head back and forth.

“What time is your shift?” She persisted, not getting my subtle hint that I didn’t want to be around her. I knew she was lying to me because I saw Maddie, Lucas, and Carly at the diner wearing dresses and suits as they were all going to the homecoming dance later. I didn’t understand why Morgan was hiding something from me, and I didn’t want to jump to conclusions because I could accuse her of something horrible and it could turn out to be nothing.

“I go in at 10AM.” I sighed.

“I’ll be there.”

“Yeah, sure,” I nodded. “Goodnight.” I hung up the phone as quickly as I could and rode my bike all the way home, crashing into my bed so I could get enough sleep for my shift in the morning.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

It was almost 3 AM when I woke up with a tingling in my hand. My arms were buried underneath my pillow and my head was resting on top of them and they were beginning to go numb. I didn’t know when I drifted off to sleep, but I felt Penner’s breath on my lower back and his arms wrapped around my body.

“Penner?” I whispered, pulling a hand out from my pillow and running my fingers along his arm.

“Hmm?” He hummed.

“Are you asleep?” I asked.

He let out a large sigh and tightened his arms around me as he stretched his limbs. “No, I’m awake.” He breathed.

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” I muttered, feeling his cold fingers draw patterns on my bare back.

“It’s okay, I love your slow breathing and body warmth,” He laughed. “I was gunna curl up with you, but when I came back from the restroom you were laying on your stomach so I invaded your back instead.”

“I don’t mind.” I smiled, hiding my face in my elbow to stop Penner from potentially seeing my red cheeks.

“Isaac?” His voice grew louder and he moved on the bed so our shoulders were touching, laying on our stomachs and looking at each other face to face.

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad I’m here.”

“Me too, Penn,” I whispered back to him. “Me too.”

He nudged his nose against my cheek before pressing quick pecks to the same spot. I couldn’t stop myself from giggling and I placed one of my hands on his hip to try and pull him closer to me. “Just a few days in New York and I’d almost forgotten what you smelled like.”

“It’s not as good as you.” I tried to flirt, but I was just being honest. My mom bought my shampoo from Kroger and I would’ve bet that Penner got his from a well-known hair stylist. I didn’t wear that much cologne, but I don’t need to explain every detail as to why Penner smelled so much better than I did.

“Hmm,” He hummed, sitting up on his knees and looking down at me. “You’re talking a bunch of nonsense.”

He collapsed on top of me as his fingers picked at my sides, causing me to squirm underneath him. “No, no, no stop!” I shrieked, trying to pull myself away from him.

“Mmm is someone ticklish?” He rhetorically asked, not stopping his hands for even a second.

“Yes, yes very!” I tried grabbing at his hands in attempts to get him to stop, but he kept slipping out of my grasp as his fingers applied more pressure. “Ugh Penner, please you’re killing me!” I screeched, curling in on myself and feeling Penner shift on the bed to put his chest against my shoulder as he brought his face closer to mine. During this whole process I was laughing uncontrollably, even though I was trying my best to sound as serious as possible.

“I just love your laugh.” He mumbled into my ear.

I kept my body curled together as I could feel his fingers digging into my pressure points. He slowly began kissing my shoulder blade and up to the back of my neck. As his hands became gentler, I relaxed my body and let him flip me over onto my back as he began placing open mouthed kisses onto my neck.

“O-oh,” I gasped, my eyes instantly closing. There it was again, that sudden rush of pleasure. I gripped my hand onto Penner’s, seeming as I didn’t know what else to do with it. He removed his mouth from my neck to give me a worried look, but I removed his expression when I latched my lips to his.

We started off slowly, almost as if this was our first kiss. I could tell he wanted to speed things up just as much as I did, but I doubt either of us wanted to ruin the gentle moment we were having together. Taking control, I started moving my lips faster, catching Penner following my lead. Subtle moans escaped our throats when our tongues got involved, and Penner situated himself on top of my lap with both legs on either side of my hips.

“ты прекрасна.” He whispered into my mouth.

“Mmm, yeah,” I agreed, not sure what it was I was agreeing to. As we continued to swap spit I couldn’t figure out what it was he actually said. “Wait, what?” I breathed, separating our mouths. At first I thought it was just my ears breaking down because of all the pleasure I was having, but then I realized it wasn’t English.

“I said you’re beautiful.” He ran his fingers through my hair and gently kissed the tip of my nose.

“Yeah,” I smiled, pulling his face away from mine. “Yeah, but that wasn’t English.”

“Sometimes Russian just comes out without even thinking about it,” His thumb softly touched my cheek. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no don’t be,” I said, shaking my head back and forth. “I mean, I liked it.” I blushed, pecking his lips.

“Yeah?” His eyebrows scrunched together as his eyes scanned over my face.

“Yeah, you should do it more often.” I nodded, speaking truthfully.

“Nah, I don’t think so.” He breathed, laying his head on my chest. I removed my hands from his hips that kept him on my lap and wrapped one around his waist.

“Why not?” I asked, combing my fingers through his hair.

“Just personal reasons.”

“Well I think it’s sexy.” I admitted, trying to lighten the mood.

Penner lifted his head from my chest and attached his lips onto mine without any warning. “Oh, you do?” He asked, taking his lips off of mine.

“I do.” I replied quickly, pulling his lips back onto mine.

His tongue pressed against my lips, and I parted them just enough to get his tongue in my mouth. The moment our tongues touched I felt like my whole body was on fire and I used my arms to sit against the headboard of my bed with Penner sitting on my lap. I his hands began roaming all over my body and I pulled him closer so we were chest to chest, laughing into each other’s mouths.

(Jai’s P.O.V)

Although I did my best to not get caught walking into my house after curfew, my mom caught me walking up the stairs. I was lectured about how I’m the mayor’s son and I need to be more responsible, but I couldn’t care less. I’d gotten about eight hours of sleep and I whined to myself because I wanted more, but it was a busy morning due to all the people who were coming into the diner after going to church.

I was picking up plate after plate and cleaning up table after table before it was even 11 AM. At noon, I thought that Morgan was going to be a no show again, but I saw her approaching me and ducked my head down to finished wiping down the tables.

“Hi.” Morgan said, coming up to me.

“I'm—I'm working.” I stuttered, picking up some silverware and tossing them into the bin, and causing a loud crash as they rattled against the plastic cups.

“Yeah, I can see that, but can you work and talk?”

“What do you want, Morgan?” I asked, taking the bin to the next table and feeling her following behind me.

“Uh, I want to talk about what we were supposed to talk about last night before I had to cancel on you,” She said, leaning on the table in front of me. “I want us to clear up the weirdness. I just want us to talk about us.”

“Now you're just making it worse.” I laughed, shaking my head back and forth.

“Uh, I-I don't know what's going on, Jai.”

“Where were you last night when you were supposed to be with me?” I wondered, throwing down the towel onto the table.

“I—.” She started.

“And don't say you were with Carly or Maddie because they were both here, Morgan,” I snapped, looking into her eyes. “I saw both of them last night.”

“Oh.” She breathed, her face going white.

“Yeah.” I nodded, taking the bin to the back of the diner.

“Jai!” She called after me, but I didn’t stop. I just waited in the back until I saw her walk about the restaurant three minutes later.

(Isaac’s P.O.V)

Penner and I took a brief nap after out make out session and decided to go grab some food once my stomach growled throughout my room.

“Is it okay for me to come inside?” Penner asked, following me through the living room.

“Of course,” I breathed. “My parents are at some brunch thing at the Mayor’s house.”

“It’s like 1 PM now,” He explained. “They could be back.”

“Yes, it’s a possibility but I’m starving,” I said, getting out the ingredients to make a sandwich. “I was thinking a classic PB&J— what’s wrong?” I wondered, watching as Penner stopped at the foot of the steps and began looking around.

“The coast looks clear.” He muttered, stepping into the kitchen and coming up to my side. He placed his hand on top of mine and began playing with my fingers.

“Relax, if anything I should be the one who’s nervous.”

“What is he doing here?” Nixon asked, poking his head in the kitchen just a few steps behind Penner. He instantly took his hand off of mine as soon as he saw my brother glancing at our touching hands.

“He’s here because I want him here.” I snapped, slapping on a pound of jelly onto a slice of bread.

“Hmm, I doubt mom and dad will approve.”

“Like they’d approve of anything you’ve done since we got here.” I shot back, keeping my focus on Penner’s hand that sat just inches away from mine. I didn’t know why Penner moved his hand away from mine just because my brother entered the room. We’ve never been known for PDA, but I didn’t see the big deal with hand holding in front of Nixon.

“Well I’m not sneaking someone in the house when they’re not here.”

I turned around from the counter to see my brother eyeing at Penner who was too busy making his own sandwich to notice. “He’s my guest and he can stay as long as he likes,” I closed the gap between the two of us and pecked his cheek just to make my brother uncomfortable. I saw Penner look at me out of the corner of his eye as a small grin appeared on his face. “Shouldn’t you be watching Kitty?”

“I’m not your slave.” He snapped, glancing at Penner before running back upstairs. I smushed my sandwich together and grabbed some Doritos from the cabinet and poured some on the plate. I noticed Penner snicker as he turned to get a sweet tea out of the fridge.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“I just remembered that impromptu song about how much you wanted a peanut butter and jelly with Doritos.” He said, biting on his lip.

“How do you remember that?” I blushed, putting my hands over my face.

“It happened yesterday,” He laughed, poking at my arm. “Did you hear that?” His head shot towards the direction of the front door.

“I didn’t hear anything” I muttered, licking some peanut butter off of my finger. “You’re acting a little weird.” I admitted.

“You said you got in a fight with your parents.” He said after taking a sip of his drink.

“It didn’t have anything to do with you.”

“I know, but I just don’t want to make things worse for you if they see me in their kitchen.” He explained, gripping onto his bottle.

“Penn, listen to me,” I said, catching his attention. “My parents are not going to get between us, I don’t want you to be worried that that’s going to happen.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant,” He sighed, but I heard the front door open and Penner cursed under his breath. “Shit.”

“We’re back!” My mom sang into the room.

“C’mon, help me with these and we’ll head back up to my room.” I calmly said, gathering up my plate in my hand.

“Isaac is that you?” My mother asked.

“Yeah, mom.” I replied.

“Did you sleep all— oh, Penner,” She walked into the kitchen, stopping in her tracks. “I wasn’t expecting you to be here.”

“I’m sorry—sorry about intruding ma’am.” He cleared his throat as he placed his lunch back on the counter and wiped his hands on his pants.

“Don’t apologize,” I mumbled to him. “Penner just got back last night and we were just gunna go have some lunch in my room.” I explained, showing her the obvious food that was in my hands.

“I see.” She said, shifting her eyes into the living room to my father.

“I suggest you head on home.” My dad said, coming up behind my mother to glare at Penner.

“Dad.” I growled, widening my eyes to try and get him to stop.

“I’m sure you will see each other another time.” He pushed back, stepping out of the way to gesture towards the front door.

“I really think Penner should stay.” I argued, grabbing onto to Penner’s hand to show my affection for him in front of my parents.

“No, no Izzy it’s fine,” Penner nodded, slipping his hand out of mine and giving me a trusting look with his eyes. “I should probably go and catch up on some homework.”

“I’ll give you a ride home.” I began, setting down my food and reaching to grab my keys off the counter to follow Penner over to the door.

“I’m sure it’s not that hard to find on his own,” My dad spoke up. Penner and I exchanged looks and I boldly attached my lips onto his just in spite of my father. Penner gave a sound of surprise when I tried to deepen the kiss by pulling him by the back of his neck, but I never felt his hands on mine when our lips separated due to my dad’s voice.

“Goodbye, son.” My father’s voice muttered, from the entry into the kitchen.

“It’s okay.” Penner mumbled, running his fingers down my arm from my shoulder. I assumed he noticed my worried expression, the one where I was scared to be left alone with my parents because I didn’t know what was going to happen.

“I’ll find a way to see you later today.” I whispered, noticing my mom, but mostly my dad glaring at me from the kitchen.

“Don’t get into any more trouble, please,” I nodded, biting on my lip. “I can’t have you getting grounded now that I just got you back.”

His smile was large enough to get me to laugh. I think he was pleased with himself because he pecked my lips once more before waving at me from the driveway as he walked down the road.

“Why did you do that?” I gasped, folding my arms over my chest as I stood facing my parents.

“It’s obvious that your newly found obsession with this boy has caused you to behave in an absurd way,” My father stood with his chin up and his chest out. His voice was deep and projecting as if he was trying to scare me in some sort of way. “And it’s clear to your mother and I that that is not how we raised you to act.”

“I am not obsessed!” I denied, raising my voice. “And he’s not just a boy he’s my bo—.” I slapped my hand over my mouth before I could finish my sentence.

It’s not like I was ashamed or embarrassed if I was going to call Penner my boyfriend. It was just the idea of my parent’s heads exploding and locking me in my room until I was 42 years old that freaked me out. I also didn’t want to lie and say that he and I were together because to be honest, I didn’t know what we were. And I know I say that a lot, but it’s not like we’ve ever sat down and officially said “let’s be boyfriends!” because that wasn’t the case.

“He’s your what?” My mom asked.

“He’s my boyfriend,” I announced, continuing on before they could say anything about it. “And he’s not causing me to act any different then I normally would, he’s showing me how messed up everything thing is and to stand up for myself.”

“He’s evidently a bad influence on you.”

“You’re the ones who made us move here and all you did was preach to us about how we needed to make friends,” Their blank faces caused my voice to falter slightly. “W-well Penner is my friend.”

“What about the Mayor’s son, Jai?” My mother’s soft voice came from my right. “You talk about him a lot but we never see him around here at all.”

“So you only approve of Jai because he is the Mayor’s son?” I asked rhetorically, turning my attention to my father. “Or is it because he plays baseball and Dad can play catch with him in the backyard?”

“We want what’s best for you.” My mom insisted, reaching her hand out to touch my own.

“You keep telling me that.” I snatched my hand away as I watched the look of hurt on my mother’s face.

“Then why won’t you believe us, dear?”

“Can’t you just listen to me!” I shouted, growing more and more frustrated by the second. “Penner is the best thing that has ever happened in my life and—and if you can’t accept that then I’m going to find an alternative solution.” I threatened without thinking.

"We don’t see him being there for you in the long run,” I clenched my jaw as my mother continued on. I could tell that my dad was trying his best not to shout at me for talking in such a way. “I wouldn’t get too attached anymore, because you’ll just end up getting hurt.”

“I never said I was ending things with him.” I muttered, shaking my head back and forth. “My alternative solution is moving out.” I looked both of them in the eye.

“Now you listen here—.” My father said, pointing a finger at me.

“I thought you guys raised us not to be judgmental,” I shrugged, turning to walk towards the door and forgetting all about my sandwich. “I’m glad to know that both of my parents are hypocrites.”

“Isaac we’re thinking about what’s best for you because we love you.” My mother tried getting me to listen with her soft voice, which worked, but not in the way she wanted it to.

“Well you’re not showing it,” I sarcastically laughed, sucking in a sharp breath. “If you loved me you would want me to be happy.”

“Stop right there.” My dad’s voice boomed through the house as my hand reached for the handle to the door.

“I’m done.” I slammed the door behind me as my grip tightened onto the keys in my hand, an idea popping into my head as I walked up the steps and into my room. I threw my keys across my room and heard them crash against the wall and land on the floor with a thud.

I closed my eyes and let in a deep breath as I sat down on my couch, but I was interrupted with a vibration from my desk on the other side of the room. Jai’s name was on the screen, along with seven text messages and three missed calls from him. I answered the phone before it could go to voicemail.

“Hello?” I breathed.

“Thank God you answered,” He exclaimed. “Haven’t you seen all my messages?”

“Oh, no I did.” I nodded.

“We’ve got a problem.” He started.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, leaning my elbows on my knees.

“I got a call from Mr. Reed at homecoming last night.” His voice came out slow through the end of the phone.

“I thought you were going to that.” I said, scrunching my eyebrows together.

“No, I couldn’t because I had to work.” Jai explained.

“Wait since when do you have a job?” I laughed, standing up to open the blinds on the window to let some light in my room. I saw movement in the driveway, something that looked like my father rummaging through my car in search for something.

“Can we focus please?”

“Fine,” I sighed. “Why did he call you?”

“Nixon snuck off with Hannah during the dance.”

“What?” I gasped, walking away from the window. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“I don’t know where they went or what they did, but they’re a bad combo together.”

“I freaking told him to stay away from Hannah.” I growled, punching my hand against the door of my bathroom. Immediate pain shot through my knuckles all the way to my wrist.

“Listen,” He said, trying to calm me down. “I need you to act like you don’t know anything about what happened.”

“Why not? I want to tear his throat out.” I roared, beginning to pace back and forth across my room.

“Calm down, we’ll both get our chances,” I chewed on the inside of my lip, not fully understanding what’s going on inside of my brother’s head. “I need to talk with Mr. Reed first and find out if any of Hannah’s friends knew anything about this.”

“Okay, okay,” I nodded, sitting on the couch once more. “Just let me know what he says.”

“Will do.” He agreed, ending the conversation.

I could feel my blood begin to boil at the thought of my brother, and on top of that my parents disagreeing with the thought of Penner and I together. I sat on my couch for a couple hours before I acted on an impulse and began throwing pants, shirts and everything else imaginable into a suitcase from my closet. I didn’t know exactly where I was heading, but I knew where I was going to end up.

(TIME PASS)

I spent most of the evening in Augusta. I didn’t know where anything was or how to tell if I was still in the state of Maine. I practically wandered around the city with an open mind until I realized that I had no purpose for being there except to actually grab Burger King for the first time in a month.

I just drove past the sign that said “Welcome to Camden” and I was driving straight into town as my phone rang in my lap, signaling that I had an incoming call coming from Jai.

“Where the hell did you go?” He blared into the phone as soon as I answered it.

“Well hello to you, too.” I replied.

“I’m serious, where did you go?” He said, taking away all the fun from the conversation.

“I was hungry and I went to get some food.” I smiled to myself, not giving out the full truth.

“You’re dad just called my mom, he was completely freaking out.”

“Is it a crime to get some chicken by yourself?” I asked, turning onto Maine Street.

“No, but it’s a crime for a minor to run away.”

“I didn’t technically run away.” I parked on the side street that was closest to the building I was going to, just in case anyone would come looking for me, they wouldn’t find my car and know where I was at.

“Where are you at?” He tried again.

“Don’t worry about it.” I said, getting out of my car and pulling my bag out from the backseat, and locking it behind me.

“You’re starting to act like your brother.” He admitted.

“I told you I went to get some food.” I began walking along the street until I stopped in front of the door I was once at before.

“Isaac—.”

“See you at school.” I interrupted, hanging up on him and knocking on the door in front of me. I waited a few beats until the door cracked open at first, then all the way when he realized it was me.

“What are you doing here it’s after 10PM?” Penner’s eyebrows scrunched together as his faced went into shock.

“I needed to get out of my house.” I breathed, trying to laugh off the unexpected awkward situation.

“You’re gunna get in trouble if you’re caught out past curfew.” He murmured, sticking his head out the door and looked both directions to see if anyone was watching the pair of us.

“Do you have room for one more?” I asked, smiling at him.

“What are you talking about?” He muttered, pulling me in by the arm. “Izzy, you can’t stay here.”

“You don’t want me here?” I gasped.

“No, no that’s not what I meant, you’re always welcome here.”

“Then what did you mean?” I wondered as he led me into his living room by the hand.

“I mean you have to be at home with your family,” He started. “You’ve got to sort these things out before you pack your bags and run away.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” I nodded, slightly agreeing with him. “But can I stay? Just for a few nights, I swear.”

“And then you’ll talk with your parents?” He said, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

“I guess so.” I sighed.

“Promise me,” He said, squeezing his hand tighter around my own. “I don’t want your relationship with your parents to end up like the one I have with mine.”

His expression was extremely serious although I didn’t know what had gone wrong with the relationship between Penner and his parents. I just knew that his parents weren’t the easiest people to talk to, so I just believed that something bad happened in the past that drove them apart.

“I promise I’ll say something to them.” I nodded.

“Alright, thank you,” He grinned, nudging his nose against mine before leaving a lasting kiss on my lips. “Don’t be surprised if I’m banned from seeing you ever again when your Dad finds out that you came here.”

“I’m never gunna let him do anything to you.” I swore.

“I wish I could say the same about my dad, but you’ve already had a bad run in with him already.”

“It’s not like you and my dad get along either.” I added, trying not to make him seem like he was the only one with a daddy issue.

“Dad’s suck.” He said seriously, but then laughed the longer we looked at each other. “C’mon on now, I’m tired and we have school tomorrow.”

He stood up and I followed behind him to the stairs, picking up my bag from where I dropped it at the front door and took it back over to the couch.

“I’ll see you in the morning.” I smiled to him as I began to take off my shirt.

“What are you doing?” He breathed, coming back into the living room.

“Sleeping on the couch.” I mumbled, pointing at the furniture in nothing but jeans.

“I slept in your bed all last night and you think that you’re gunna sleep on my couch?” He scoffed at how stupid it seemed to him. “You’re insane.” He grinned, gathering up all my stuff and pushing me by my bare back all the way up the stairs and into his room.

“Sorry, I didn’t know what the boundaries were.” I admitted, sucking in a breath as he pushed me down onto his bed and ripped his shirt off over his head as well. He threw himself down onto the bed next to me and I couldn’t help but attach my lips onto his the second I got the chance.

“Hmm,” He thought, detaching our lips briefly. “How about none?” He looked into my eyes for a millisecond before glancing them to my lips and back up again. As soon as we made eye contact I couldn’t help but press my lips hard against his, and the best feeling was having the same pressure returned. I was just praying that Rebekah wouldn’t walk in at any moment and ruin the whole thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this is the end!.. well not the actual end, I've still got plans for three more stories! You can also find this story on Wattpad under the same name.


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